Out of the Darkness
by InterNutter
Summary: AU seen in TTWY. Kurt Darkholme falls in love with Kitty Pryde. Is this the end of the Brotherhood? Complete fic!


Disclaimer: Marvel/WB own the characters. I own the rest. So ner.  
  
Archiving: email cat@devil.com and ask nice. You can also send  
breathless, praising reviews to this address. I *like* praising reviews  
^_^ They nice ^_^  
  
Summary: What if Mystique had managed to escape with her son? How would  
the Brotherhood be different? *Would* the Brotherhood be different? And  
will their attempt to gain Kitty Pryde as their new hire wind up sowing  
the seeds of their own destruction?  
  
Coding info: Since fanfic is wont to turn up on web pages, I've  
deliberately avoided anything to do with greater-than or less-than  
signs, because they tend to screw up HTML something chronic. Hence;  
asterisks (*) denote emphasis, underscores (_) thoughts or italics,  
curly brackets ({}) sound effects and square brackets ([]) foreign  
languages. I refuse point blank to codify accents, as it winds up  
reading like lousy spelling :) I have enough trouble with that as it is.  
  
From the Author: Welcome to Book Three of the Crisis of Infinite Kurts.  
I don't think I'll be doing parallel episodes. It'd get too confusing.  
And yes, the beginnings of *all* these TTWY AU stories will look  
familliar. It's so that these tales can be stand-alones.  
  
Credit: Thanks to Red Witch and her wonderful BOM fics in which the guys  
have little mementos of happier times. I've stolen your idea wholesale.  
This is something of a compliment ;)  
  
Out of the Darkness  
InterNutter  
  
Kurt Darkholme was rarely let out of his mother's sight. Therefore  
wherever she went, he went. It gave him an opportunity to see new  
places, but the meeting new people part was always reserved for the  
Test.  
Having seen Kitty Pryde, he hoped she would pass.  
Right now, he was watching her from on high - in the darkened corners  
of her high school hallways' ceiling. No guardian angel, he could only  
watch as two bully-girls sealed her in her locker.  
He briefly played with the idea of 'porting right into the bully-  
girls' path and scaring the bejeezus out of them. No. It wouldn't help.  
He waited, patient, until the hallway was empty before moving.  
By that time, Kitty was screaming for help.  
"Hush," he soothed. "I'll let you out. Just relax."  
"Who's out there? Who are you?"  
"My name's Kurt," he said, still uncomfortable with the etymology of  
his last name. "I'm - a friend. I hope." Thanks to the hood of his  
costume, she wouldn't be able to see his face until he chose to let her,  
but nothing could disguise his tridactyl hands, nor his digigrade legs,  
nor the tail... "I'm - not from around here and - I'm very shy," he  
allowed. "I have a power, like you have a power. We - my mother and I -  
we can teach you how to own it. How to stop being afraid." His sensitive  
fingers found number after number in her locker combination. "Meet me in  
the old church grounds after school. I'll show you what I mean."  
Her door swung open, and he used its noise to disguise the sound of  
his 'porting.  
All Kitty found, on emerging from her locker, was a single rose.  
  
After School.  
Kitty found the old church had been cleaned up a bit. Not by much,  
just enough to get rid of most of the leaf-litter. The grafitti  
remained, sullying the old stone and remaining windows alike.  
"You *came*," it was the same breathy, accented voice that had rescued  
her from her locker.  
"Like, *totally*... I mean, it's not every day a girl gets a rose."  
"Beauty deserves to be with beauty," said Kurt, now recognisable as a  
cloaked figure in the shadows.  
"Or flattery," Kitty grinned, sitting herself down on a righted pew,  
then noticing the artifacts lined up there.  
There was a bible, a bell, a candle, a string of garlic, a crucifix, a  
bottle of water, a wooden stake and a hammer. All arranged on black  
velvet.  
"That's part of my test," said Kurt. "The paraphenalia of demon-  
destruction. So far, there hasn't been one person who didn't reach for  
something in there."  
Kitty started to feel afraid, now. "Uh... why would they do that?"  
"Because of the way I was born," Kurt answered, taking a half-step out  
of the shadows. "I scare people; and I don't like scaring people... but  
if you're going to work with my mother, then - you're going to see me."  
The stake and hammer, she noticed, were new. "Is that your power?  
Scaring people?"  
A brief laugh. "Nein, liebchen. Scaring people is something I can't  
help. I prefer to get it out of the way on my terms, and that's what  
having a power is about, too. Taking it on in your own terms. You can  
own what you do, or you can be afraid of it, but it will never go away,  
no matter how much you want it to."  
"So... like, what *do* you do?"  
"I teleport." {Bamf!} And in a cloud of sulpherous smoke, he was about  
three meters from her.  
Kitty gasped, her mind was still reeling. Anything could be under that  
hood... but if he was evil and wanted to do something to her, wouldn't  
he have done it by now?  
"I know," he backed away, stopping when she righted herself. "It  
scared me, too, the first time it happened. I thought I was *really*  
turning into a demon. I felt my head every five minutes for the first  
hint of horns... but my mother was there. She helped me, and now it's my  
turn to help you."  
"After the test, right?"  
"That's right," said Kurt. "Remember, whatever you choose to do, I  
won't stop you."  
His hands were a little of a shock, being blue, covered in fur, and  
only having two fingers and a thumb. Then Kitty remembered that those  
were the hands that had freed her, when no-one else would.  
She watched, almost hypnotised, as those hands pulled back the hood he  
wore. Okay, so facial hair wasn't her 'thing', but the pointy ears were  
kinda cute, and the long hair was nice in a roguish kind of way.  
Judging by the look on his face, he wasn't finished, yet. Kurt undid  
his cloak with a grim determination to see something through. He removed  
it, folding it up as he went, and revealing...  
_Okay. I'm staring. *Blink*, Kitty. Those are *not* cloven hooves.  
They're *toes*. So his feet are wierd. That doesn't make him a bad guy._  
She blinked and recovered, just in time to watch his tail unfurl from  
around his waist and twitch through the air.  
"This is all of me," he said, closing his golden eyes. "Do what you  
will."  
Kitty didn't even think of the paraphenalia so close to hand. All of a  
sudden, her fear of her stupid little power seemed so purely selfish.  
She'd been born looking normal. She'd had a normal childhood and had  
lived without people shrieking at her every time she stepped outdoors.  
She could only imagine what Kurt had been through.  
Resolute, she stepped towards him, negating the psychological height  
he'd given himself by standing while she sat. She reached towards him,  
and took his hand in hers.  
His fur was short and soft, like the fuzz on a kitten's nose.  
Her other hand held his head in place with the pressure of a  
butterfly, and she kissed him on the cheek.  
"You're not a demon," she said.  
Kurt exhaled, tears gathering in his golden eyes. "Katzchen..." he  
whispered, holding the hand that held his. "You're the first one to ever  
pass."  
His smile, though it held fangs, was worth everything in the world.  
  
He never knew how long he stared at her, just smiling. It felt good.  
It felt right. Magneto's ramblings about hatred and fighting never  
seemed so wrong. He was in too good a mood to hate anything.  
"So who are you like, with?" Kitty asked.  
"With? Er. Well, there aren't that many of us. Magneto calls our  
organisation the Brotherhood, but - if you're with us, that may have to  
change, ja?"  
"Magneto? You have a mutant who names himself after like, an engine  
part?"  
Kurt sighed. "Ja. He believes that humankind will destroy us. He's  
trying to build an army to defend mutantkind against them. I - can't  
hold with those beliefs."  
Kitty seemed surprised. "You can't?"  
"Nein. There are good people and bad people. Just like there are good  
mutants and bad mutants. We're all *people*... no matter what we look  
like." He flopped onto the pew and packed away his holy paraphenalia.  
"That's why I insisted on the Test. Why I had to find someone who could  
pass."  
"So you did. Now what?"  
"Good question." Kurt shrugged. "I suppose I should tell you about  
everyone. There's Magneto, but he kind of stays to himself. My mother -  
her code-name's Mystique. She can shape-shift. Then there's Todd. He's  
called 'Toad' for reasons that will become blatantly obvious within five  
seconds of meeting him."  
Kitty giggled. "And what about you?"  
He grinned, dropping his voice into melodramatic tones. "I am the  
hideous and unworldly *Night*crawler..."  
"You're named after a *worm*?"  
"It could be worse." He shrugged. "Take a few of the nicknames I have  
at home: Blue-boy, Fuzz-butt, Freako..."  
"You're not a freak," objected Kitty. "You're like, the nicest guy  
I've ever met."  
"Dankeshoen, but 'freak' ist not just a state of mind. I'm hideously  
deformed. I can deal."  
"*I* don't think you're like, hideous."  
Kurt felt like he could smile forever. "I know. I love you for it."  
Someone was calling his name. A female who sounded harsh, savage, and  
violent.  
"Who's *that*?"  
Sigh. "My mother. She's a little - uptight. Comes with dealing with  
Todd 24/7. Trust me." He picked up his things. "Coming, Mom!"  
Kitty fell into step behind him, and practically hid from the two  
figures approaching. "OmyGod... *Lance*."  
"You know him?"  
"He like, tried to kill me. *And* my Mom and Dad. And that like, girl  
from the Institute."  
Kurt stared at her. "The Institute, you say... They tried to enlist  
you?"  
"I haven't like, decided, yet."  
"What the *hell* is *that*?" Lance demanded.  
"Hello to you, too," sarcasmed Kurt. "Pleased to make your  
acquaintance. Not."  
"What the hell are you doing with *her*?"  
Kurt decided to ignore Lance. "Mom, this is Kitty Pryde. She still  
hasn't made up her mind who to join, yet, but I have something of a  
plan."  
The woman with the blue skin and the vivid red hair glared at him.  
"*You* have a plan. I'm sure our sponsor won't be pleased."  
Both Kitty and Lance were looking confused. Mother didn't have so much  
as a trace of a German accent. Kurt, on the other hand, cultivated his.  
He *liked* Germany. He *liked* the years he'd spent hiding out in  
Heirelgart. He *loved* the Wagners. In fact, in his secret dreams, he  
was their son.  
"I'll explain later, Katzchen." Kurt turned back to his mother. "We  
have here the perfect chance for a double agent. Kitty, here, joins the  
X-men, and spends each evening phoning her 'new boyfriend'," he gestured  
at himself, "and gives us intelligence on the inner workings of the  
Institute. She could even give us technical specs on their gadgets."  
"No way," said Lance. "She's a wimp! She'd never do it."  
"Show's what *you* know, Lance Alvers! I'm like, *totally* going to do  
it!"  
Kurt preened. "Ha."  
"If this backfires," Mother announced, "you're taking the fall."  
"Relax," Kurt soothed. "What could possibly go wrong?"  
  
Lance was still majorly freaked out. He was still panicking about the  
blue bitch with the red hair who could shapeshift. The blue fuzzy devil  
in black would have to wait. But, since he was currently practicing some  
form of obscure yoga while chatting on the plane's phone to Kitty's  
mobile, he was obviously not going to wait for long.  
"Oh, *ja*... I nearly forgot about the whole accent thing. Heh. What a  
silly devil, ja? Okay. In brief? We spent a lot of my childhood years in  
Germany. The accent kinda stuck. Ja, ich spreche Deutsch. And a few  
other languages that are completely useless outside of die Schwartzwald.  
You're kidding. You really want to know? I'm fluent in German, Romani,  
and HalbesPferd. It means 'half-horse'. Ja. Heirelgart has centaurs. So  
does the Geiselthal. I am *not* kidding! Es ist *serious*."  
His left toes were playing with his right ear.  
"What the *hell* is he?" Lance finally blurted.  
"He's my son," said Mystique. "That's all you need to know."  
"Great," Lance muttered, "stuck on a plane with two freaks, and one's  
a momma's boy."  
The freakshow was ignoring him, his undivided attention went to the  
voice on the other end of the line. "You say the cutest things,  
liebchen..."  
_I'm gonna have to get a German/English dictionary,_ he thought.  
_'Cause I wanna *know* what that freakshow is *saying* to her._  
  
"And this is going to be your room. Furnishings by request,  
obviously."  
Lance looked at the expanse of carpet. "Obviously," he echoed. Then  
sniffed. "What the hell is that smell?"  
Kurt rolled his eyes before he hollered, "Todd! I told you to take a  
bath while we were gone!"  
There was a distant, "Make me, yo!" from somewhere in the house.  
"Fine!" Kurt yelled back. "Be that way!" He padded along into the  
kitchen and bought out a toaster. "I'm unpacking the toaster," he  
yelled.  
"I'm lockin' my door," called Todd.  
"Like that's going to *stop* me! I'm making toast, now," he called as  
he slotted bread into the thing and turned it on.  
"Bite me, blue-butt!"  
Mystique slumped into a chair and sighed. "Every other day, it's the  
same thing..."  
"This - happens a lot?" asked Lance.  
"When it comes to cleanliness, Todd and Kurt are polar opposites," she  
reached into a hidden recess of her recliner and pulled out a paper-  
bagged bottle, which she swigged from. "Their little war's been going on  
for *two* *years*..."  
"I'm spreading the butter!" Kurt announced at the top of his lungs.  
"There goes the cinnamon sugar!"  
{Bamf!} he was gone.  
Todd shrieked, there were sounds of a fight - or rather, half a fight  
- and a door unlocked and openned. "'S unfair, yo," said the rather  
grungy young boy who must be Todd. "Why'd I gotta live wit' *you*?"  
Kurt emerged after him, munching on cinnamon toast. "We've got another  
housemate, now," he said. "Mit luck, you can draft him onto your side."  
Lance pinched his nose shut at Todd's smell. "Nod ligely," he said.  
"Aw, *man*... He's gonna make me take a bath every *day*, yo. Not  
fair. I'm goin' get all pruney an' shit."  
Kurt escorted him into the bathroom with a flourish. "You'd have to  
soak for a few hours to do that, fruend. Use soap, this time."  
"Instead o' Mister Bubble?"  
"I think - as well as Mister Bubble."  
Toad disappeared into the bathroom, still muttering about the  
injustices of bathing. Kurt, meanwhile, zipped into the kitchen to wash  
his hands and face - albeit briefly - under the cold tap.  
If it wasn't for the threat of jail time for trashing his old school,  
Lance would have bailed then and there.  
  
Kitty was personally amazed. The Professor hadn't once read her mind,  
just like he'd said. Her room was like, *totally* something else. She  
got her own phone, a spending allowance, a shit-kickin' PC... "Like.  
*Wow*. Consider me like, *bribed*."  
"This isn't a bribe, Kitty," said the Professor. "All students here at  
the Institute have the same privaleges, as well as the same  
responsibilities."  
"I like, got the pitch on the plane. Keep my grades up, training every  
weekend; like, yadda yadda yadda. I can like *deal* if this is like, one  
of the perks."  
"I'd also appreciate it if you didn't tell your boyfriend about some  
of the goings-on, here."  
_D'oh!_ "I - wouldn't sweat it, Professor. Kurt's like, totally open-  
minded. He like, already knows I'm like, a mutant."  
"All the same, be careful."  
"Like, sure thing." The second he was gone, she picked up the phone  
and dialed.   
Ring ri-- "Jawohl?"  
"*Kurt*! Like, guess where I'm calling from?"  
"Hhmmmm... The plane?"  
He was playing with her. Kitty giggled out a, "No..."  
"The airport?"  
"No..."  
"The car?"  
"No..."  
"The mansion?"  
"Getting warmer..."  
"Your brand new room?"  
"You should see it, it's like *SO* cool. You could like, put half of  
my *house* in this room! I'm like, *never* going to like, fill it."  
"Ach, shows what you know. A few throw rugs, some pillows... They do  
wonders, trust me."  
Someone picked up another 'phone. "Yo lady, you blind or what?"  
Sigh. "Get off the 'phone, Todd," said Kurt.  
"I mean, you *know* what this guy looks like, right?"  
"Like, get off the 'phone, Todd," said Kitty.  
"Blue, hairy, demonic. You *know*, right? Right?"  
"She knows, Todd. It didn't bother her, okay? Now get back to cleaning  
up."  
"I'm still in the tub, yo..."  
"Now *there's* a mental image you don't want. Trust me."  
"Oh, ha ha ha." Todd hung up.  
Kitty had to laugh.  
"In case you're interested, that was Todd. He's much nicer on the  
'phone, because you don't have to smell him."  
There was a distant, "I heard that, yo!"  
"Mother's --" a beat, "--relaxing. I think our mutual associate's  
given her a little of a tough time. Lance is still clinging to walls and  
staring at me as if I'm going to bite him or something."  
"Lance is a jerk," summarised Kitty. "From what I've heard, you must  
be like, the only nice one in the whole bunch."  
"Ach, everyone has their bad points, liebe. All these people have a  
good side. Todd would deny it to God, but he adores fantasy books; and  
Mother - Mother does her best. It's difficult to look after mutants,  
ja?"  
"I - guess so," Kitty allowed. Did he just like, damn his own mother  
with faint praise? "Are you like, okay? You sound kinda stressed." _You  
sound a lot stressed..._  
"Mother's having some 'down time'. It'll be all right. I'll be fine,  
liebe. Trust me."  
And she did. He artfully turned the conversation on to other things.  
How her trip was, what she'd seen in the Institute, where she was going  
to school... That sort of thing. He made her laugh so easily. It was  
beyond cool.  
"Like, what's your last name, anyway? I didn't catch it."  
"I - didn't exactly throw it. I - I have to tell you - I don't like  
how it sounds."  
"Is it like, jaw-breaking or what?"  
"Nein. My name is Kurt Darkholme."  
"What, like Principal Darkholme, Darkholme?"  
"Ja."  
"Freaky!"  
The silence on the other end of the line changed. "Please. Don't say  
that word."  
"*Ooops*! OmyGod I'm so sorry, I didn't think... I didn't mean it."  
"I know, liebe. I can handle it most of the time, just - not now. Like  
I said, we all have our bad moments."  
"It's like *totally* understandable. Like, is your Mom related to  
Principal Darkholme? Like her sister or something?"  
Kurt said, "Er... I'm not allowed to say."  
Click. Kitty could feel the realisation hit home. "She *is* the  
Principal, isn't she?"  
Sigh. "Act like you don't know. Es ist better."  
"Right. I can like, do that. Don't worry. No-one'll have a like,  
clue."  
"Wunderbar," Kurt breathed. "Du bist Freude meines Inneren..."  
Kitty giggled. Damn, German was sexier than French. "I love you, too."  
"You do? You're sure? Ich bin so glucklich... mein Katzchen, mein  
liebe. Nichts kann mich stoppen Sie liebend..."  
"Like. *Wow*. You can like, do *that* forever."  
"Swear my undying love? Certainly!"  
"Especially in like, German. You sound like, totally *cool*."  
"Ja? Then: Ich mochte Sie in aller Ehre heir--" click.  
Okay. That was like, wierd.  
  
Lance made himself blink. After possibly the wierdest 'phone  
conversation he'd ever seen, both of the freaks were facing off. The  
fuzzball was still holding on to the receiver and staring at the blue  
bitch. She had her hand on the 'phone's hook.  
"Er. Mother? You hung up on an important 'phone call..."  
"What - did you call me?"  
"M-m-mom?" He gently put the receiver down and backed away.  
Mystique's eyes narrowed.  
Trembling, this time, "Mommy?"  
"Upstairs," Mystique hissed.  
Todd emerged from the bathroom, clad in a towel that had been white in  
a previous life. He saw the fuzzball creep upstairs, followed by the  
bitch, and muttered, "Aw, man... not *again*."  
_The hell?_ Lance was still staring up the stairs as Todd came out of  
his room, wearing clean clothes, and looking extremely unhappy about  
everything.  
"I hate it when this happens, yo," said Todd. He winced as a door  
upstairs clicked shut. "Still, better him than me." And with practiced,  
economical moves, he started unpacking things from a high cupboard.  
Nothing out of the ordinary - for a guy who could stick to walls.  
Lance watched the growing pile. Hospital-grade wound-dressing kits.  
Medical alcohol. Bactine. An assortment of salves. Gauze. Painkillers.  
Bandages. A particularly vicious {thud} from upstairs added some  
hot/cold packs and a sling to the mix.  
Todd climbed back down and carefully arranged his haul on the table.  
"You might as well pay attention, yo," said Todd. "You might wanna be  
able to do this someday."  
"Why *would* I?"  
Todd glared at him. "Freako ain't pretty t' look at, yo, but he  
*cares*, y'know. He's taken th' fall for me like *that*," he snapped his  
fingers, "more times'n I could count. Least I can do is patch him up  
when his mom's through with 'im, yo."  
It went quiet, upstairs. There were no more shouts. No more fighting.  
Todd ducked and covered under the table.  
Lance automatically fumbled in his pocket. He *needed* a cigarette.  
Todd muffled a scream as he saw Lance put one in his mouth. "Don't  
*do* that," he hissed. "Put it *out*!"  
Lance gave him the finger as he inhaled.  
Mystique looked human as she came down the stairs. Not much of an  
improvement, he thought, but at least she could go out on the street.  
Without a word, she grabbed the cigarette from his mouth and put it out  
on his wrist.  
"ARGH! What the fuck are you *doing*?" he demanded.  
"The next one goes out in your eye," she said. "No smoking. Have I  
made myself clear?" She didn't wait for an answer, just strode off and  
slammed the door on her way out.  
"Fucking *bitch*," Lance breathed.  
"She means it, yo. Next time she catches you lightin' up, you'll be  
lucky if you get to pick which eye to *keep*."  
"Fucking *bitch*," he said.  
There was a dragging noise upstairs.  
"Aw, crap. She musta busted one of his legs..." Todd cleared the  
stairs in two leaps. There was a distant, "Holy *crap*, man."  
Mystique hadn't made an improvement on fuzzy's looks. He was covered  
in blood, his right arm hung limp, and his left leg dragged on the  
floor. Todd wasn't nearly tall enough to help him walk, but that didn't  
stop the boy from trying.  
"Shit," said Lance. If she'd do that to her own son, how could any of  
them be safe?  
Todd was carefully feeling the leg from the toes to the hip, moving by  
hand's breadths and squeezing gently. "Gotta be a pinched nerve, yo.  
Don't feel busted."  
"Fits," Kurt breathed. "Back's out."  
"Iron railing?"  
"Ja. Dislocated mein shoulder, too."  
"Right. Bite som'pin."  
Kurt picked a pencil from the table and put it in his mouth.  
{Krak!}  
"Ngh!" Kurt was able to move his arm again. Another deft {Krak!}  
realigned the back.  
Lance watched, hypnotised, as Todd patched up all the bleeding wounds,  
cleaned up blood, and soothed both swelling and bruises. Finally, he was  
able to speak. "We have *got* to book."  
"I ain't leavin' him, yo."  
"You can go anywhere you want to," Kurt breathed. He was holding a  
cold pack over half his face. "Any time. I'm - stuck."  
"He can't do what his mom does, yo," said Todd. "He's stuck lookin'  
like that. Ain't nuthin' no-one can do."  
Kurt took a painkiller. Just a single tab, and murmured, "Help me to  
the couch?"  
"Yeah, sure. Rest up. 'S gonna get better." Todd eased him onto the  
couch, and pulled a moth-eaten blanket over him.  
He was fast asleep. Just like that.  
"It'd be better on him if you hung around," said Todd. "Mystique don't  
got many people to blame, yo. An' she goes easy when there's new  
recruits around."  
"What *is* he?" Lance demanded.  
"He's just Kurt," said Todd. "God's punchline. Mystique's punchin'  
bag. Who knows? He says he was put here to stop her goin' psycho at us.  
Ha! What he don't know don't hurt him."  
"She tries any shit on me, and I'll bust her fuckin' arm," said Lance.  
"Wait 'till she does the thing with the teeth," said Todd. "Ain't  
nothin' can make you move when she does *that*." He tidied away the  
stuff, more out of obligation than any need for cleanliness. He pointed  
at the cigarette packet. "Better throw that out, yo. Goin' cold turkey's  
way better'n facing the boss."  
"She's our boss?"  
"Yeah. Got a nice little blackmail file on each of us, in case we  
decide to bail. Now c'mon. We gotta clean up the blood from her suite  
before she gets back, yo."  
"What? *Why*?"  
"'Cause you don' wanna see the thing with the teeth on your first day,  
man. Trust me on that."  
  
Mystique came back to order and silence, they'd seen to that. She  
dumped the groceries on the table and pulled the blanket from Kurt, who  
was barely coming around from the painkiller.  
"Mom?" he croaked, still drowsy. "'M sorry, Mom... I didn't mean it."  
"Shhh..." she said, gone tender. "It's my fault. I didn't mean to hurt  
you. I'm so sorry. My poor beautiful boy... I'll make it all better,  
you'll see." She gently picked him up into an embrace. "I'll make it all  
better. You just say what you want. I'll get it for you, baby."  
"Lance needs a bed," he murmured. "'S not right t' sleep onna floor."  
"I've already got it on order. It should be here soon. You'll have to  
sign for it."  
"I can do that, Mom."  
"Now. What would *you* want, hmm? What does Kurt want all for  
himself?"  
"I heard there's a new book out by Terry Goodkind. Or ist it Terry  
Pratchett? One of the Terries... maybe both..." he drowsed in his  
mother's arms. "Turkey for dinner? Or maybe that chocolate-malt ice  
cream?"  
Mystique kissed his forehead with a laugh. "We'll see, baby. Want  
Mommy to carry you upstairs?"  
"Nein, Mom. There's a show on Discovery I wanna see. I'll be okay  
right here. You don't have to make a fuss, Mom. Ich bin fein..."  
Mystique put the remote in his good hand. "Okay, sweetie. You call me  
if you need anything. Anything at all."  
"Jawohl," Kurt sighed.  
Lance sneaked a peek into a bag full of frozen goods. There was a  
sizeable turkey and a bucket of choco-malt ice cream already there.  
Mystique apparently knew all the buttons to press, all the ways to  
manipulate him. So why was the more normal of the two all sick and  
twisted, while the twisted one was relatively sane and normal?  
He decided not to ask out loud.  
  
"It was just a *'phone* call..." said Kitty for what felt like the  
millionth time.  
"The number you dialed was to a very dangerous place, Kitty," said  
Storm. "It's where the Brotherhood hangs out."  
"The Brotherhood? Like, what's the Brotherhood?"  
"Our opposite number," said Logan. "The Brotherhood of Mutants. They  
stand for exterminatin' the human race before it exterminates them."  
"They're not killing people, are they?" Kitty squeaked. Kurt didn't  
*seem* like the homicidal type...  
"Not yet, Half-pint. But it's only a matter of time. They're  
dangerous. You shouldn't be calling them."  
"I'm sure Kurt just like - lives there or something. He's like, mega-  
nice."  
"I'd like to meet this 'Kurt' of yours. How did you two hook up,  
anyway?"  
"He was travelling with his Mom, and she was out in Northbrook on  
like, business. He like, rescued me from my locker."  
Jean and the Professor exchanged looks. They were sharing a telepathic  
conversation. Fine, as long as it didn't involve seeking out Kurt.  
They'd like, have him on a chrome table in like, seconds. _Think about  
something else,_ she told herself. _You're like, in a room full of  
telepaths. Like, don't think of purple walrusses._  
Jean looked extremely confused.  
Bingo.  
  
"You're kiddin' me, yo," said Todd. "No way is that the girl."  
"It's her. Somehow, she's into freaks," said Lance. "Go figure."  
"Way they were carryin' on, I'da thought she was a dog or sumpin,"  
said Todd. "They'd *both* be desperate, y'know?"  
Lance laughed. It was cruel, considering what Kurt put up with, but he  
laughed anyway. Despite the fact that Kurt unearthed a mattress from  
somewhere for him to sleep on that night. "So who are the other two?"  
"The redhead's Jean Grey, the girl with no codename. She's a teep and  
a teek."  
"Huh?"  
"Don'cha read nuttin'? Teep - Telepath. Teek - Telekinetic. Got it?"  
"Guess." _Learn something new every day..._  
"The one wit' the shades is Scott Summers, aka Cyclops. *Don't* ask  
'im to take off his shades, ifyouknowwhatImean."  
"Huh?"  
"He's deadly, yo. Shoots these laser beams. One look an' you're  
sailin' halfway across Miami, yo."  
Lance whistled. "*Cooolll*..."  
  
That evening, he also got an education.  
"Think fast!"  
{Whack} an old basketball hit him on the head.  
"OW! That hurt, you fuckin' freak!"  
"Oh. So you expect your enemies to be as considerate, ja?" Kurt  
demanded. "You want them to go easy on you because you're new at the  
job?"  
Lance threw it at his head. "*You* think fast."  
He caught it in one hand, without even blinking. "Your aim sucks and  
your reflexes are appalling," he said. "I expect no less out of you than  
I demand from mein self. Shape up."  
"Or ship out?" Lance scoffed.  
"No. You'll just die. When it comes to a fight, no-one's going to  
yell, 'think fast'. No-one's going to give you *any* warning. They'll  
just hit you. Be prepared, or die. Es ist that simple." He threw the  
ball at Todd's head.  
Todd turned and deflected it right back at Kurt, who in turn threw it  
at Lance.  
"*OW*!"  
"Heheh, he *does* suck, yo."  
"I'm gonna kill *both* of you little fuckers," Lance vowed.  
"You'll have to catch us first. Slowpoke." Both Kurt and Todd ran into  
the basement.  
Lance followed, and was stunned for a third time. It wasn't the usual  
repository of garbage. It'd been set up as a gym. Replete with some kind  
of modern-art thing scrawled across the ceiling in three dimensions. All  
hoops and bars and wierd angles.  
Kurt swung through the thing like an expert. So did Todd. The fuzzball  
came to a stop, hanging upside-down by his toes. He was holding the  
ball. There was a hoop on the wall.  
"Want to make the grade, mudslide? Score a basket against Todd and I."  
"Yo, we'll even make it easy on ya," said Todd. "We'll play 'can't  
touch floor' rules."  
He lost. Spectacularly. Several times.  
To two freaks who were *smaller* than he was.  
It was humilliating, but he vowed to do better. Then, and only then,  
he would kill them.  
  
Kurt dialed Kitty's mobile. He hoped she wasn't mad at him for not  
calling back after Mother hung up on them.  
"Hello?"  
"Please don't be mad?"  
"Kurt? Like, are you okay?"  
"You're not mad at me, are you liebe? It's just that Mother -- needed  
to use the 'phone."  
"You're mom doesn't like you fraternising with like, the enemy either,  
huh?"  
"Is that why you didn't call back?"  
"Like, yeah. The second they realised you were with the Brotherhood,  
they like, pulled out all the stops. They're like, watching my every  
move. They put me in the same room as like, Ms Perfect."  
"That would be Jean Grey, ja? I heard about her from Todd. Genius  
model cheerleader wannabe, from what I heard."  
"Add 'telepathic pest' to that list and you like, got it in one."  
"Never fret, liebling," Kurt soothed. "The path to true love ist  
rocky, but we *will* overcome obstacles. Together or apart, we can be  
strong."  
Kitty giggled. "Ooops. Gotta go. They just spotted me on the 'phone.  
Like, call you back when I can," and she hung up.  
Kurt put the receiver back in its cradle. "Now I know how Romeo felt,"  
he murmured.  
  
Someone activated the doorbell. _Crap._ He hurried into the room he  
shared with Mother and threw on his Outside Clothes. Not that they  
caused less of a stir than his undisguised self, but at least people  
didn't scream.  
Built-up shoes on under the loose pants. Mittens on the hands. Mask on  
the face. Tail cinched around his waist and covered with his shirt. Hood  
up. If it were winter, he'd add the cloak, but he was hot, and he hoped  
this would be enough.  
_Act agoraphobic,_ he reminded himself, opening the door. "Ja?"  
"Delivery for Darkholme?"  
"I'll sign for it," he said, and at the stares, added, "I'm  
agoraphobic. I hate open spaces." It was a glib and practiced lie.  
"There's a lot of furniture," said the guy whose overalls proclaimed  
him as Barry. "Where'd you want it?"  
Kurt opened the door all the way, hiding behind it as he did so.  
"Second door to the right, down the hall."  
"Man, you've got it *bad*. Did you hear there's this medication you  
can take, now?"  
"I'm allergic," said Kurt. He hunched his way into the bathroom and  
watched Barry and his cohorts move furniture from behind the partially-  
closed door.  
"Must suck to be shut in like this," said Barry on one pass.  
"I'm fine. As long as I have the Internet and the Discovery chanel -  
and lots of books to read - I'm happy. This --" he tapped the mask   
"--comes off when I know I'm safe."  
"Ah. *Right*. My brother's wife's sister has something like that. She  
wears this old-style bonnet so she can go out." He gestured a pair of  
blinkers with his hands. "She says she's a human hermit crab, taking her  
safety with her."  
"She has it easier than I do. I need a guard."  
"Ouch."  
"Ja."  
Soon enough, they were done, and Kurt could relax.  
{Bing bong}  
Or maybe not. Kurt put the hated mask back on and opened the door a  
crack. "Jawohl?"  
"Are you Kurt?"  
"Ich spreche nicht viel englisch," he lied. "Ich kaufe nicht nichts  
heute."  
"Now that *is* interesting," said Xavier, "Because Kitty doesn't  
understand a word of German. How do you communicate, hm?"  
_*Crap*._ "How about a deal? You let me talk to her, and I let you  
talk to me."  
"Your English is remarkable for someone who claims ignorance of it,"  
said Xavier.  
"Deal, or no deal, Xavier? Make up your mind. I *can* call the  
police."  
"True, but that would eventually involve your -ah- associates. They're  
wanted for several crimes, if I recall correctly."  
"Do. We. Have. A deal?"  
Xavier sighed. "Determined, aren't you?"  
"Goodbye." He shut the door.  
{Bing bong. Bing bong. Bing bong.}  
_Mother's going to kill me for this..._ He opened the door again.  
"What?"  
"I'm not going away."  
"And I'm not talking to you until we have a deal."  
"Why is it so important to you?"  
"Because we're in *love*," said Kurt. "Nothing else matters."  
Xavier seemed to slip into deep thought. Kurt put up his mental  
shields as Mother had taught him. He could actually feel Xavier's mind  
scrabbling at them like a rat at a pantry door. He gave up, but Kurt  
kept the shields, just in case.  
"You aren't going to let me in, are you?" said Xavier.  
Kurt scoffed at him. "Not while I live and breathe. Not while I keep  
*wanting* to live and breathe."  
"Yes. Quite. There's a park, not far from here. Nobody visits it. We  
could talk there."  
"Do we have a deal?"  
"I'll have to see. I won't let one of my students endanger themselves  
and --" he tapped his head, "--I don't know you. We'll discuss  
everything in the park."  
Kurt watched him leave. Mother *was* going to kill him for this. Best  
that she didn't find out. He obsessively tidied away all traces of the  
workmen before he went. His home-school work had been finished hours  
ago, minus the last page that he always saved for the hour that Mother  
came home. He did it so that she knew he'd been working.   
He'd learned that if he wasn't 'just finishing up' by the time she got  
home, there was trouble.   
He put on his cloak. _All the better to hide myself, dear..._  
Kurt crept into the back yard, focussing on the park Xavier had talked  
about. {Bamf!} He was there, waiting amongst some trees for the bald  
mutant to turn up.  
There he was. Alone. Good.  
Kurt emerged into his line of sight, still heavily disguised. He had  
to do this. For Katzchen. For love. He kept the image of home in his  
mind, ready to teleport out at a moment's notice.  
"What's with the disguise?" Xavier asked. "There's no-one here."  
"Let's just say I prefer it this way, ja? I'm here. I don't carry any  
weapons. Do we trust each other?"  
Xavier tested Kurt's shields again. He could feel it.  
"Obviously not. What happened to your vaunted respect for others'  
privacy? Or doesn't that count between the two of us?"  
"Touche," said Xavier. He left Kurt's head for good. "I was just  
trying to find out where you fit within the Brotherhood."  
"Team mascot," said Kurt with a grin, even though Xavier couldn't see  
it. "I help the others shape up, in my own little way. Make sure they  
can work as a group. Teach them little things. Survival, mostly. I'm  
*good* at survival."  
"And if it came to a fight between the Brotherhood and ourselves?"  
"I'd hope that it wouldn't," said Kurt. "I have to admit that mein  
feelings for Katzchen are - complicating things..." He sighed. Then he  
decided. "I'd defend myself and my team. No more. I wouldn't attack. I  
*couldn't* attack. Violence ist not a solution. It's a problem."  
"Interesting perspective from a student of Magneto."  
"Who said I was his student?" Kurt knew for a fact that Magneto had  
left his care solely to his mother. He only ever got the 'Humans are  
bad' lecture, which he nodded his way through in a grey haze.  
"Technically, I guess I'm just a mere hanger-on. Magneto has a hold on  
my mother, but my mother has a hold on me. If - Gott forbid - she died  
tomorrow, I'd owe him nothing."  
"And who *is* your mother?"  
"That, mein fruend, would be telling everything." The town clock  
struck the half hour. "Our time is up. Do we have a deal?"  
"You've told me so *little*..."  
"If we had a deal, I could drop by for a cup of tea and a nice chat.  
But if we don't - I can figure ways around it."  
"Kitty's safety is paramount. I won't endanger her."  
"Neither will I." Kurt hid himself in the underbrush before he  
teleported home. No good. Damn.  
Kurt shed his outer coverings and set himself up for Mother's coming  
home. The worst part was waiting for the sound of her car, before  
starting the last page. Second-worst was working slowly enough that she  
could *see* him working.  
Third-worst was having to surrupticiously sniff the air to see if she  
was tanked.  
He really hated having to put up an act so that his own mother  
wouldn't hit him or the others. _Quit complaining,_ he reminded himself.  
_Mother's been keeping us all safe for years. Just think, if it wasn't  
for her, I'd be stuffed and mounted in a glass box. Or pickled in a  
bottle._ He shuddered at the image.  
Maybe not.  
*Maybe* someone like the Wagners would have taken him in. There were  
plenty of tiny villages in the Schwartzwald that had extrordinary  
residents. Like Centaurs. One blue fuzzy demon-boy would hardly raise an  
eyebrow. In fact, they'd hid out for *years* in Heirelgart, and nobody  
turned a hair at seeing either of them.  
He really *missed* Heirelgart. Mama and Papa Wagner, his nearly-  
family, sent them Christmas cards and letters; keeping in touch. Kurt  
was never allowed to reply to them, but he treasured and kept them all.  
Mother didn't know. She thought she'd thrown them out, but Kurt rescued  
every single one from the trash, and hid them away in a little camphor  
box that he kept in a little hidey-hole in the crawlspace.  
Sometimes, when Mother was asleep, he and Todd would creep down there  
and listen to the comforting words of a place that was as close to home  
as either of them would get. But even Todd thought that the Centaurs  
were something of a pretend game.  
His heart leaped as he heard Mother's keys scratching at the lock. He  
seized his pen and stared at the remaining questions on the last page.  
That one was easy. He was halfway through his working before Mother  
opened the door.  
"Just finishing up, Mom," he said, and delicately sniffed the air.  
Good. Still sober. "I should be done in a few minutes."  
"The furniture came," she said. It wasn't a question.  
"Ja, Mom. I signed for it. The illegible signiature."  
"Good. Now you can quit whining about the accomodations."  
"Yes, Mom." He was going to get another black eye, tonight. It was  
only a matter of time. What sucked was that she never told him why.  
Lance and Todd came in, still arguing about something.  
"It wasn't my *fault*, okay? How the hell am I supposed to appologise  
for something I didn't do?"  
"You should still say it, yo," said Todd. "Make things easier on us,  
y'know?"  
"Alright. Fine. I'm *so* sorry that jerk Duncan Matthews decided to  
use me for fuckin' target practice, okay? And I'm *really* sorry that I  
bled all over Darkholme's nice clean hallway floor, and needed to go to  
the *nurse's* office and get *stitches* in my frikkin' *leg*!"  
Mother didn't even bother sitting down before she hit the bottle.  
"Shut up, yo. That ain't the way t' do it."  
"You gonna lead by example, frogboy? Or are you gonna get the  
freakshow to do it?"  
Kurt was trembling by the time he picked up his schoolwork. He had to  
do this, or it'd just get worse. Put himself in the path of harm. "Mom?  
I've done my work... It's here for you to check it?"  
Mother glared at him. "It never ends with you, does it?"  
_Fantastische. She's going to work up into it. Why can't it stop?_  
"Mommy?"  
"Turkey dinners. Furniture. Chocolate ice cream. You just want it all,  
don't you? You never *stop* do you? DO YOU?"  
In spite of his best intentions, he cringed and said, "I'm sorry,  
Mommy..."  
"Aw, shee-it," muttered Todd.  
She didn't even wait for him to get upstairs.  
  
{BWEEEEEEEEET! BWEEEEEEEEET! BWEEEEEEEEET!}  
"Perimeter defense breach detected," intoned the computerised voice.  
So calm in comparison to the alarms. "Section Twelve."  
Kitty moaned. She'd just got to *sleep*...  
"Get *up*!" Jean yelled. "Scramble! Now! This means you!"  
_One of these days, I'm going to get a better roommate. Like, one  
who's *quieter*..._ "I'm up. I'm up," she sighed, dragging herself out  
of bed.  
Jean threw her costume at her. "Get dressed. Hurry. I'll meet you  
downstairs. MOVE!"  
"...mmmrrrgggllll..." Kitty managed, skinning out of her jammies.  
She'd just got the unitard on when someone was tapping at her window.  
She slouched over and opened it up.  
A dark figure practically fell through the portal with an exhausted,  
"Katzchen..."  
"*Kurt*? What *happened*?" She barely recognised him. The clothes were  
his style, but they covered him completely. He even wore a mask.  
She took it off. He'd been pummelled to within an inch of his life.  
"There was -- an accident," he said. "Fred and Mother...(unh) Gotta  
get help. The others. Worse'n'I am..."  
Kitty bit her lip. She'd been getting notes in her locker - kinda  
slimy notes - concerning the goings on in the Brotherhood house. She  
couldn't reply verbally, because she was monitored every time she even  
thought of getting on a phone; but if she wrote a note and dropped it  
near Todd, it'd find its way to Kurt.  
She'd spent weeks just wishing she could see him again.  
_I take it back..._ "OmyGod... You're left arm's like, *broken*."  
"It's an accident. Others need help. Gotta get. Help..." he passed  
out.  
"HALF-PINT!" Logan roared as he entered. "When we say scramble, we  
*mean* scram-- what the hell is *that*?"  
She'd barely put his mask back on in time. "Kurt's been hurt," Kitty  
managed. She was crying, but she held herself together because Kurt  
needed her to. His faith in her gave her the strength she needed. "There  
was an accident. There's folks worse than he is at the Brotherhood  
place."  
Logan sniffed. "Whatever that is, it don't smell human," he rumbled.  
"Step away from it, half-pint."  
"No. This is *Kurt*. He came here looking for *help*. Are you like,  
going to let people *die* 'cause you don't like how someone *smells*?"  
"So why's he wear the mask?"  
"It's --" _God, I don't need this, right now._ "It's for his  
protection. Like, either help him or leave us alone. I'm not like,  
leaving him, okay?"  
The rest of the team turned up, ready for a fight that didn't exist.  
"Kitty?" asked the Professor.  
"There's been an accident," Kitty repeated. "They need us."  
"I don't trust it," said Logan.  
"I trust it," said Xavier. "The images of - carnage - are very clear  
in his mind... but I sense more secrets behind the truth."  
"Then we'll tread carefully," said Scott. "We can't ignore an SOS, no  
matter who it's from. We need to get this 'Kurt' patched up first.  
Storm?"  
Panic. "*NO*! I mean... I'll like, look after Kurt. He like, trusts  
me. All I need is a medkit. And privacy."  
"Kitty, we can't leave you alone with him. You know that."  
"Fine. The Professor can stay. He like, knows how to keep secrets."  
"...no doctors..." Kurt managed, mumbling in his sleep. "Sie begraben  
mich in einem Glaskasten..."  
The Professor nodded at the others to leave as soon as the medkit was  
handed over.  
"Promise you won't like, freak out," said Kitty. "The last thing we  
need right now is like, panic."  
The Professor raised an eyebrow. Kitty ignored it and gently divested  
Kurt of his diguise. Xavier didn't even blink. He *did* murmur, "Ah.  
*That* was why," under his breath.  
Kurt's face was a mess. He was bleeding from a hundred and one minor  
cuts all over his body. His left arm was broken, and it felt like he had  
a matching fracture in his right hock. He didn't feel like he was  
bleeding internally, but one rib felt suspicious, at the least.  
Kitty cleaned the bleeding wounds, stitching the ones that needed  
stitches. Then she had to bandage them. "Sorry, baby," she whispered.  
"I'm gonna have to put these like, sticky things on your fur..." His  
lovely fur. So soft and beautiful. He wouldn't be happy about the  
plaster, either. She put a layer of gauze between him and his casts. A  
very thick layer. And she cried all the way through putting the casts  
on.  
"You really do love him," Xavier whispered.  
"It isn't like, hard," said Kitty, discarding his hideous built-up  
shoes under her bed. "He's really like, sweet. He doesn't like, really  
belong with the Brotherhood y'know? It's just like, he'd fallen in with  
like, bad company." She sniffed. "He hates getting junk in his fur. Says  
it's like, really uncomfortable. Worse than like, shed fur..." Kitty  
tried to wrap him back up, conceal him from prying eyes. It wouldn't go.  
Kurt roused. "We're still here, liebe?"  
"I had to like, patch you up."  
"I'm not important. The others."  
"We're going now. I tried to like, help you cover up, but --" she  
gestured at the casts. "It wouldn't like, work."  
Kurt sighed. "I'm going to scare them. I always do. I'll just hunch up  
in mein cloak. Maybe that can work mit the mask. We have to go,  
liebchen. Now."  
She helped him to his feet, and winced when he put on the mask. All  
she wanted was a world in which he didn't have to hide.  
  
They were all still alive. For that much, at least, he was grateful.  
He'd never have forgiven himself if any of them had died.  
"Fred's in the most trouble," Kurt said, limping over to where the  
teen lay. "He lost a lot of blood. I don't know his type. He's the quiet  
sort."  
Logan, Ororo, Jean and Scott took over triage.  
"Like, what *happened* here? Where's your mom?"  
"Mother took off. It was an accident." He looked away. He couldn't lie  
to Kitty's face. "The stairs. Fell down the stairs. And broke some  
glass."  
One of the boys moaned. Kurt limped over to him. "It's going to be  
okay, Todd. Just hang in there. Trust me. It's going to be okay."  
"This fuckin' *hurts*, yo... How the hell you put up wit' it every  
week?"  
"Shhh..."  
"Every *week*? Something you're not telling me, Kurt?"  
He hung his head. He smoothed Todd's hair with his good hand. "I don't  
like to talk about it to you, liebe. You should never have to hear about  
ugliness. Das ist mein department..."  
"Shut up," Todd whispered. "Y'r better off not sayin' nuttin'."  
"Do you 'fall down the stairs' a lot, Kurt?" asked the Professor. "Or  
do you occasionally 'walk into doors', hm?"  
He knew. There was no point playing games. "Es ist not an easy thing,  
having something like me for a son, ja?" He made it over to where his  
half-sister lay, and listened to her heart through her shirt. "Herr  
Logan? You have a healing power, ja? Meine schwester... she needs to  
borrow it. Just touch her forehead for a few seconds."  
Logan did so. There was a flash of light, no more than a flicker. He  
slumped into unconsciousness.  
Rogue's wounds healed.  
Kurt breathed a sigh of relief. "One saved. At least there's that."  
Once again, he stirred himself, this time to check on Lance. So tired.  
Couldn't rest yet. Not while the others were in danger.  
Lance was okay. Most of the bleeding had stopped. The lump on his head  
was worrying, though. And all he had were tepid hot/cold packs.  
"How's Fred?" he asked.  
"No broken bones," Jean reported. "He needs a lot of stitches, though.  
We're doing everything that we can."  
"Sehr gut." He had to do more. Clean it up before Mother came home.  
"Katzchen, there's medical gear in the high cupboards. I can't get up  
there, like this. Could you oblige?"  
Kitty used a chair for a stepladder and ransacked the supplies. She  
put some ice from the freezer in an old towel before she fell to  
assisting him. She knew he couldn't see so well with the mask blinding  
him.  
"You don't want to like, talk about it, do you?" she asked.  
"Es ist not like that. I need to help the others, first. Can't permit  
myself to be weak. Not yet. They need me."  
"It wasn't *just* an accident. This sort of thing happens a lot.  
Doesn't it?"  
"Mother's hit a bad patch, recently. It takes her a while to get -  
accustomed - to new people. And we've had three new people in as many  
weeks. She's not always this bad. Tensions have been high, and - she  
can't take a time out."  
Kitty handled the stitches, because she'd seen his own hand shaking.  
She let him handle the cleaning. "Time out?"  
"Mother needs time to be alone, sometimes. Time to be free. I'm  
something of an albatross... Can't always hide. So she leaves me with  
friends. People who know about us. She's always come back for me. That  
means she wants to keep me." He managed Lance's broken right arm into a  
temporary cardboard cast. Just something to keep it stabilised until he  
could reach more professional help. "I guess she snapped, what with  
Fred. They're both very - strong. Very sensitive. She got angry. He got  
protective. Someone said the wrong thing..." Kurt gasped back tears. "It  
was an accident. A terrible, terrible accident. His grip slipped. It  
must have. Big people are clumsy, sometimes. I'm sure he didn't *mean*  
to break one of Mother's bottles..."  
  
Kitty kept patching up the fallen members of the Brotherhood as she  
listened to Kurt's quiet story. She pieced it all together, starting  
with the Professor's double-talk and finishing with Kurt's fragments of  
truth and hopeful fiction.  
Fred, the boy with the hair-trigger temper, had obviously seen exactly  
what was wrong with the Brotherhood scene, and attempted to rectify it  
by breaking the source. He must have shattered the bottle in the sink,  
and put himself between Mystique and the rest. Kurt would have tried to  
protect him, in turn.  
She could see them, struggling with each other, fighting to put  
themselves in harm's way. Then Mystique, being a shapeshifter, obliged  
them both.  
Kurt would have fallen first. Though he was agile and fast, he would  
have wanted to be caught. Fred, the more resilliant of the two, would  
have fought all the way down. There was barely a stick of furniture left  
for the other three to hide behind by the time Fred went down.  
Rogue had used part of the table-top as a shield, and maybe even tried  
to steal Mystique's power before she, too, was a crumpled heap on the  
floor. Lance fought, not that it did any good, while Todd tried to hide  
in the oven. He was the only one of them small enough to fit in there,  
and it explained why the oven door had been hanging from the remains of  
the screen over the Kitchen window.  
Judging by the bloody, slimy sneaker prints all over the place, Todd  
had tried to run. It didn't do him any good either.  
Nothing did any good.  
"Kurt was right," the Professor whispered, either listening to her  
conclusions or coming to them himself. "Violence *is* a problem."  
Someone filled the open door. Two someones.  
All Kitty could see was a large caped shadow and a smaller, albino  
teen. Of course. He must be the 'Quicksilver' fellow. Evan Daniel's  
rival.  
Evan was away sorting out the last of the legal hassles with becoming  
an X-man, in this case, transferring his parole.  
This guy - what was his name? Peter or something? - he must have just  
skipped jail, thanks to the caped wonder.  
"Xavier," said the larger figure. "I should have expected such  
treachery."  
"Not treachery, Eric. Betrayal. We're just cleaning up your employee's  
mess."  
"Darkholme..." rumbled Eric. "Report."  
"It was an accident," said Kurt. "One of us said the wrong thing at  
the wrong time."  
"Thisistheoutfityouwantmetostayat?" said Quicksilver. "You'vegottabe-  
kiddin'me, Pop."  
"What did you call me?"  
"Uh. Sir?"  
"Don't forget it. Clean up the mess."  
"Don'tworry, I'llfindeverythingmyself." Faster than the eye could  
follow, he zipped around the house, which seemed to fix itself. "Done.  
Nowwhat?"  
"Now you will assist my revenge on Xavier and his - pets."  
"Nein! They came to help! I *asked* them to help!" Kurt struggled to  
his feet. "It's my fault they're here. They're *helping*..."  
"'S right, yo," said Todd. "They ain't done nuthin'."  
"I never said they did."  
"*Magneto*..." Kurt begged.  
That was Magneto? He had *shocking* colour sense. _Purple and orange?  
Ewwww..._  
"The opportunity is at hand, Darkholme," Magneto rumbled. "Why waste  
it?"  
"Murder is for the unimaginative," he said.  
"*Traitor*!"  
Kurt was lifted up in the air. He didn't look too happy about it.  
_Magneto uses magnetism, Kitty,_ said the Professor in her head. _His  
power and Kurt's must clash._  
Kitty already guessed as much. She picked up something that looked  
solid enough and used it as a bludgeon on him. Rogue followed up by  
mashing her naked hand into his face. Todd, even though he was only  
halfway patched up, was barely keeping Quicksilver occupied. His sticky  
slime kept the speedster slowed down. Just.  
Kurt fell, and stayed down. Whatever Magneto did to him must have been  
pretty bad. If it wasn't for him breathing, Kitty might have thought  
that he'd died.  
Kitty just lifted her bludgeon and bought it down again. Just to be  
sure.  
Magneto shielded himself with his arm, then opened his hand and sent  
her flying across the room.  
Of course. Humans contained iron. A metal. And bunches of electrons in  
every other atom of their body. Kitty tried to phase, and discovered  
that her powers clashed with Magneto's too.  
She screamed, still trying to phase and failing at it. Her body felt  
like it was on fire.  
"Katzchen!"  
There was a string of {Bamf!}s, and the next thing she knew, she'd  
fallen outside. By the time she got back in, Magneto was beating a hasty  
retreat and Kurt was insensate on the floor.  
His mask was off. He was exposed to everyone's prying eyes.  
The Professor was trying to help him. "He just grabbed Eric and  
teleported about six times... then he fell. Magneto was heavily  
disoriented from the experience."  
Quicksilver, mired in Toad's goo, kept calling out to his father.  
"F'rget it, yo," said Todd. He sat on the stairs, exhausted. "You're  
abandoned. Jus' like the rest of us." He leaned back against the stairs  
with a sigh. "*Man*, I'm dizzy."  
"You've re-opened some of your wounds," said Scott. He, Jean, Ororo  
and Logan had been working on Fred the whole time.  
Jean absently floated over some cotton and gauze. "This should hold  
you until we can get a better look. Just sit still and try to stay  
awake."  
"After the day *I* just had? You're nuts, yo." He still accepted the  
help.  
Kitty cradled Kurt against her chest. "Stay with me, baby," she  
murmured into his pointed ears. "Stay alive. Live for me. Don't you  
*dare* die for me..."  
At length, Todd said, "I thought all you X-geeks hated us, yo. What's  
with the charity work? We could come back worse'n ever an' kick your  
butts."  
"We don't hate you," said Xavier. "We merely disagree with what you  
stand for."  
"You mean 'what we blackmailed into doin', yo. Every single one of us  
got some charge that got quashed. Or in fuzzy's case, vivisection. One  
wrong move, an' vtt-- we ain't got nowhere to run."  
"Yeah," said Quicksilver, still trying to peel himself from Toad's  
sticky goo. "Wewindupinajailoralab. Notexactlyfunforthewholefamily."  
"Us," Todd's gesture encircled the Brotherhood as it stood - or lay.  
"We all the family any of us *got*, y'know. Can't rely on nobody but  
us."  
"That can like, change, you know," said Kitty. "Kurt like, proved  
that."  
"Ow," said Lance as he regained consciousness. "What in hell'd I  
miss?"  
"Alot," summarised Quicksilver. "Icantellyouthewholethingintwominutes,  
butI'dratherbeouttathis*junk*onnafloor." His foot came free of his shoe  
with a faint {thoip} sound. "Oh *fab*..."  
  
Kurt was first aware of not knowing where he was. It was still dark,  
so he took a deep sniff. Nothing. He couldn't even 'smell' the room he  
was in, using his night senses. All he could rely on were the other  
five.  
He was on a stiff bed, the sheets were starched. The whole place  
smelled of pine. Alongside Katzchen's bandages, there were new, annoying  
things stuck in his fur. The beeping finalised it.  
He was in a lab.  
They were going to wait until he was better before they began the  
experiments.  
All he could think was, _Well, Mother's deal with Magneto's shot to  
hell, now..._  
Kurt risked opening his eyes. Sterile. White. Dimly-lit. Just like  
every hospital room he'd ever seen on TV. Except this time, he couldn't  
hear Mother whispering in his ear about what would happen to him if he  
ever went in one.  
There was something around his neck.  
He tried to sit up, encumbered by two casts, several rolls worth of  
gauze bandages and, from his personal estimates, enough wires to suspend  
another Golden Gate bridge.  
Maybe the experiments had started early.  
There was a note with his name on it on the bedside drawers. It was in  
Kitty's hand. Kurt snatched it up and read:  
"Do *not* panic, okay? Believe it. You're like, totally safe. Prof.  
says the thing on your neck is so you like, don't take off and like,  
hurt yourself. If there's no-one like, around, there should be a call  
button somewhere. *Stay* *put*, okay? You're like, majorly in trouble,  
okay? Magneto tore you up pretty bad. You need like, rest and like, lots  
of it. Bring you chicken soup in the morning! Love you. Kitty."  
Rest. She didn't know his little secret. Unless he was drugged or  
knocked unconscious, he couldn't sleep when he was alone. He looked at  
the clock. 2:30AM. It was going to be a long day.  
He leaned back into the pillows with a sigh. There were little dots on  
the ceiling. Well, it was something to do.  
_One, two, three..._  
  
_Three thousand, four hundred and eighty-seven..._ Kurt sighed. _Three  
thousand, four hundred and eighty-eight..._  
"Oh. You're awake."  
"Three thousand, four hundred and eighty-nine," he sighed. "Holes in  
the ceiling so far..."  
Storm raised an eyebrow. "You had difficulty sleeping?"  
"Urgh. Understatement of the year, fraulein... Wo bist meine  
Katzchen?"  
She looked at her watch, "Still asleep, I should think. Do you want me  
to wa--"  
"Nein! Let her sleep. If I remember, she got hurt by Magneto, too."  
"Not as badly as you did," said Storm. "A few painkillers can do  
wonders." She checked instruments, removed a few wires, and took out a  
drip. "Not in your case, though."  
"Ja," Kurt sighed. "One tab of tylenol and I'm out for the count. I  
must have *no* immunity to drugs whatsoever."  
"Fast metabolism," Storm explained. "Pietro had the same trouble.  
Anything we gave him would hit fast and hard."  
"Quicksilver was hurt?"  
"He tried to hit Toad," she said. "After we cleaned up the wreckage,  
he needed several sutures and a lot of painkillers."  
"Heh." Kurt felt more that a frisson of pride. "*I* taught him to  
fight like that. Good for him. 'S about time he stood up for himself."  
"Pity he couldn't have taken a stand in a room *less* full of  
breakables," said Ororo.  
Kurt winced at the resultant image. "All right. The Professor can take  
it out of my hide at his leisure."  
"*What*?"  
"That's the way it works. They do. I pay. Simple. It's my fault for  
letting them, anyway. Right?"  
"You were *unconscious*," defended Storm.  
"Since when has *that* mattered?"  
Storm's mouth went into a thin line and she all but charged out of the  
room. That was certainly odd.  
Kurt leaned back and picked up where he left off. At least his spatial  
awareness hadn't gone away. _Three thousand, four hundred and ninety...  
three thousand, four hundred and ninety-one..._  
  
The Professor entered as Kurt was nearing the end of his tiny-hole  
counting.  
"One hundred and twenty-eight thousand, five hundred and sixty-four,"  
he said.  
"Bad night?"  
"Somewhat. I still have a couple of panels to go."  
"So I heard," he cleared his throat. "What's this about my taking the  
cost of damages 'out of your hide'?"  
"It's the way it works at home," said Kurt. "No-one has to see me, you  
see. That way, no-one asks questions about how Mother runs the boarding  
house."  
"Your mother beats *you* for the actions of others?"  
"Not - quite. I just happen to step into the path of harm. I take the  
brunt for them. Mother's always sorry. She just gets mad and it has to  
come out somewhere..." he shrugged. "As long as mein kameraden are there  
to help me patch up, everything is fine. It's only natural she has to be  
mad at me. Mother can hide so easily. I can't. She's had to go through a  
lot, because I was there."  
"She could have easily abandoned you," said Xavier. "Or left you in  
the care of others."  
"Ja. She had to leave me behind a few times. She always came back for  
me. Just before I give up hope. One day before her time runs out." Kurt  
huffed a brief laugh. "I gave her three years, once; but she came back.  
She wanted me."  
"But she hits you."  
"Doesn't evil deserve to be punished?" Kurt asked. "Look at me. Don't  
you see a demon?"  
"No," said Xavier. "I just see a boy."  
It was an epiphany. Xavier had never reacted. Not once. "There aren't  
going to *be* any labs, are there? No experiments? No vivisections? No  
pickling, nor glass boxes..."  
"No," said Xavier. "Never."  
Mother had lied to him.   
All this time, there'd been help for the asking, and she'd given him  
terror. And broken bones. And bruises.  
"I think I know how much time I'm giving Mother to come back for me,"  
he announced.  
"Yes?"  
"No time at all. She's left me behind for the last time."  
Xavier nodded, just accepting his judgement. "You need bed-rest for  
another twenty-four hours, and I'm afraid that your mutant inhibitor  
collar is going to have to stay on for at least a week."  
"I'm going to be blind for a week?"  
Xavier raised an eyebrow. "I - thought you could see just fine..."  
"It's difficult to explain. I've always known where I am. Where  
everything is. It works better at night, but I can make it work in the  
day if I concentrate. It's sort of sight. Sort of smell... I can't  
explain it with just five senses. Scent is the best analogy, but only by  
a thin margin. With this thing--" he tapped the collar, "-- I can't know  
where I am. It's like being suddenly blind."  
"I may be able to fix that for you, but I'll still have to stop your  
ability to teleport. I don't want you harming yourself in a panic."  
"Understood. I wouldn't want to teleport, either, the way I felt  
before I passed out."  
Xavier wheeled out just as Kitty breezed in.  
"Morning," she sang. "How's my favourite fuzzy elf?"  
"You have others, Katzchen? I'm shocked..."  
Kitty giggled, setting down the tray and settling beside him on the  
bed. "Glad to see you're like, awake. You like, had me totally scared  
for a while."  
"Ja. Magneto really did a job on me. Felt like he was tying mein guts  
in knots."  
"*Ew*... Like, I did not need that like, image."  
"Sorry, liebchen. I'll let you change the subject, ja?"  
"Like, sure! I like, made you some chicken soup. I even like,  
*touched* meat. Urkh..."  
"Your bravery is appreciated, sweetie," he kissed her hand, running  
his tongue along her flesh, just briefly.  
Kitty giggled again, blushed, and managed a, "Stop that..."  
"We haven't seen each other for weeks. Don't I get one little kiss?"  
"*After* you've like, had breakfast." She maneuvered the tray around  
and offered him a spoonful. "Open up."  
Kurt obliged, and almost instantly regretted it. Kitty hadn't spent  
much time reading the stock lables or the words on the bottles on the  
spice rack. It was probably an acquired taste, and he was going to do  
his sworn best to acquire it.  
The chicken tasted good. Pity about the soup.  
"Damn. I should get me some o' that room service, yo."  
"Go away, Todd. It's not every day I get quality time with mein  
liebchen."  
"Yo, it's hardly never. Howcome *we* din't get no soup? We gotta fend  
fo' ourselves or what?" Todd stuck to the nearest handy wall and helped  
himself to Kurt's soup. He shuddered. "Urgh. Take it back! What'd you  
make this with? Beef stock?"  
"Uh. Something like that. I think." She shrugged an appology to Kurt.  
"I was like, in a hurry."  
Fred had crept in with the usual timid silence of a large person  
trying to go unnoticed. He moved stiffly, and one of his arms was in a  
sling. "Sorry I couldn't stop her," he said. "Guess it's my fault this  
happened."  
"Not so fast, mein fruend," Kurt soothed. "There may yet be a silver  
lining."  
"Yeah? What is it? I mean, besides the accommodations?" asked Lance.  
He and Pietro took up guarding positions on either side of the door.  
"Xavier may yet take us in. Keep us away from Mystique."  
"Nowthere'saplus," said Pietro. "Ihaven'tevenmetherandshescaresme."  
"Just be on your best behaviour, please," Kurt said. "Company manners,  
eh?"  
"Rogue's already fittin' in," said Todd. "Minute she found out 'bout  
your li'l necklace, there, she all but signed right up."  
"Yeah!" Kitty grinned. "I like, totally have my old room back. And I  
got like, a brand new roomie!"  
Kurt laughed. "You and my sister. That's not a combination that  
readily comes to mind..."  
"At least she's not like, invading my head every five minutes."  
"Point," Kurt nodded. "And she's the ultimate chaperone. Nothing like  
a sibling to really put the damper on a good make-out session."  
"Is that *all* you can think about? Like, making out?"  
Kurt grinned. "Liebe, I've lived for your kiss."  
The rest of the boys moaned and rolled their eyes.  
Except for Pietro, who said, "Ishealwaysthispathetic?"  
Fred socked him one. "Shuddup," he said. "You leave true love alone."  
Todd held his face in his hands. "Never shoulda' read him _The  
Princess Bride_, yo..."  
Kitty leaned down for their first proper kiss. Kurt did everything to  
memorise her taste.  
"Pardon me while I throw up," said Lance.  
  
Xavier called out casual greetings as he passed the members of the  
Brotherhood by. They murmured friendlyish noises but kept their guard  
up. No doubt Kurt had told them all about their prior meeting.  
It was his own fault for not trusting the boy. But how could he? Kurt  
was Mystique's son. He'd spent large amounts of time in both Mystique  
and Magneto's alleged 'care'. Xavier had no idea what was going on  
inside that fuzzy head of his.  
He entered the infirmary. Okay. Maybe he had *one* idea. He could feel  
the love radiating out from both of them, almost like a physical heat.  
It was genuine. He cared.  
Judging by the risks he'd taken for his team, with two broken and  
unset limbs, he cared a lot for the people around him.  
Xavier cleared his throat.  
"Alas," sighed Kurt as he broke the kiss. "Your chaperone is here."  
"Like, one of them. I've got like, the whole team like, looking out  
for me. It's like, annoying."  
"They're worried about you," Kurt soothed. "They don't want you to get  
hurt."  
"Like you'd hurt me," Kitty scoffed.  
"They don't know that." He smiled as he touched her face. "Thanks for  
the visit, liebe. And the kiss."  
"Like, what about the soup."  
The smile turned into a rictus. "I'll - get back to you on the  
soup..."  
"It sucked, didn't it?"  
"I didn't say that!" Kurt held his hands up in surrender. "I never  
said anything like that. Only - no offense meant - you may want to taste  
your cooking before you serve it?"  
"Aaawww... and you ate it all up without saying a word? My poor  
elf..."  
Xavier rolled his eyes. _Young love..._ "When you're *quite* ready,  
Kurt, shall we see about adjusting your collar?"  
Kitty bit her lip and almost vaulted off the bed. "Is Kurt like, in  
trouble?"  
"Only psychological discomfort, liebe. I don't Know where I am."  
Kitty caught the capital. "*Oh*... is *that* what you were like,  
talking about when you like, said you could like, feel my presence in  
the night?"  
"Something like that, ja..." Kurt laughed, his smile turning impish as  
he added, "Though I was using a little poetic license and metaphor, as  
well."  
Kitty blushed.  
Xavier bought out his tools and inspected the circuitry. Just as he'd  
thought. It was at the default setting, which obscured *all* mutant  
powers, and not just the ones that came about with puberty.  
A few adjustments here and there, and Kurt sighed away an enormous  
load of tension. "One level underground. Thirty meters from the front  
door of the Institute. Katzchen's ex-bedchamber ist another level up,  
two meters left, and ten meters towards the river. Sehr gut."  
Xavier's eyebrow quirked. He could feel landmarks, and relate them to  
where he'd already been.  
"You have some interesting rooms, here, Herr Professor. Quite the  
underground Labyrinth."  
Xavier felt his heart leap. Good thing he was still restrained. He  
schooled himself to remain calm as he shut and locked the maintenance  
panels of the collar. "Quite an uncanny ability."  
"It's saved my mother and I a few times. Though stopping to sniff  
every two miles could get - unnerving."  
Just like that, he revealed a weakness. His range.  
He was drowsing as he talked. "I've since taught myself to scope out a  
place on the fly. But Mother and I never needed it after I did that...  
that was when we found Todd. When Mother got the idea of enlisting young  
ones."  
"And who is your mother?" Xavier asked. Eric had called him  
'Darkholme', but the Professor wanted to be sure.  
"Rav'n Darkholme." His eyes shut completely, and his breathing fell  
into a slumbering rythm.  
Kitty didn't appear disturbed by the news. "He didn't want anyone to  
know I knew," she said. "It's kinda like his Mom's big secret. I don't  
know what she's going to do to him, now..."  
"I wouldn't worry, Kitty. I get the impression that Kurt wants to  
stay."  
"He *does*? Oh, cool! Can we go down to the boarding house and like,  
rescue their things? I mean, if Mystique's not like, back. We can take  
Todd and Rogue and Fred and like, make sure we've got everything."  
"A good idea, Kitty, but you're going to school today."  
Kitty pouted. "Not fair," she mumbled.  
  
Quicksilver enlisted himself as mass packing and moving, mostly  
because he was bored. Any large volumes of things that had to be  
shifted, like Todd's library, were his.  
Good thing they'd taken the X-van.  
Between Todd's library, Rogue's makeup, and Kurt's jungle gym, they  
had quite a haul. Fred's wardrobe fit into one box. So did Todd's and  
Rogue's. Kurt, though his mother had been lavish with certain things,  
had a very small amount of personal treasures. The PC and his clothing  
took up little space. One small box.  
Then Todd disappeared for a frightening handful of minutes while  
everyone was finishing up - aka smuggling treasured childhood tokens  
into the car without anyone else seeing.  
Todd came back bearing a box, a knitted blue doll, and a pair of  
antique brushes. These, he carefully arranged on top of the rest of  
Kurt's things. They didn't even overflow. "Guess that's everythin'," he  
said.  
"That ain't everythin'," Rogue ran back into the house, only to return  
with a photo frame clutched to her chest. "This is everythin'."  
"I dint know about that one, yo."  
"He wasn't exactly showin' it off," Rogue placed the photo underneath  
the doll. Its gold button eyes staring out into space. "I only know  
about it 'cause I accidentally touched him."  
"Ohyeah," said Fred. "I remember that."  
"Got *everything* this time?" Logan rumbled.  
"Onesecond," said Pietro. "Igottagodosomething." He vanished, only to  
reappear again. "Lefteralittlegoodbyenote. Somethingtorememberusby."  
"Good. Pile in. Let's go."  
"I'm taking Lance's car," said Rogue. "He trusts me with it."  
"Fine. Whatever. Let's book."  
  
Kitty was getting bored, staring at the tasteful artwork in the  
Principal's waiting room. It wasn't like there was anyone *else*  
waiting. Just her and the paintings and the magazines from like, four  
decades ago that contained nothing at all of interest to read.  
She was halfway through an article called, _Steam, the Undiscovered  
Power of Egypt_ when she was finally called in.  
"Ah. Ms Pryde. I found an interesting scene when I returned home, last  
night."  
"You did? What like, happened?" She could be a champion actor now,  
just like Kurt had taught her through his letters.  
"My son is missing."  
"He is?" Kitty faked a gasp. "Like, OmyGod... I hope he's like,  
okay..."  
"I'm very concerned. He's missing his medication."  
_You mean 'lumps and bruises'._ "I never knew he took any."  
Mystique sighed. "Kurt abhors his needles. I'm the only one who can  
give them to him. Without them," she paused to wipe a tear from her eye.  
"I'm afraid he may be in terrible pain. He might even die."  
_Shyeah right. I'm not falling for that one._ Kitty took a deep  
breath. "I know what you like, did to him. It's no wonder he like, ran  
out on you. Anywhere would be like, safer than like, near you."  
"I've protected him for sixteen years. I've kept him safe."  
"You like, kept him *scared*, you mean. Nobody should be like, afraid  
of their own mom..."  
"You don't know anything, child. You don't know anything at all."  
"I know you broke one of his arms and one of his legs. I know you  
like, drink. I know you like, left them to *die* and didn't like, care.  
I know--"  
"Ms Pryde, you're asking for a detention. You've earned two hours so  
far."  
_Bitch._ "I know you don't really care," she said.  
"Three hours."  
"I know you like, abandoned him for like, years with people who were  
like, nearly strangers."  
"Four hours."  
"Why don't you hit *me*? I'd love to join him y'know."  
Mystique glared at her. "Detention for a week."  
Kitty shut up.  
"You may return to your classes."  
_You may go to Hell,_ Kitty thought at her as she went to her current  
class. _Bitch._  
She was just slinking back into class when she got a telepathic  
message.  
_In case anyone asks,_ said Xavier, _Your brother's name is Stephen  
James Pryde._  
_Professor, what--?_ but he was gone.  
The school's PA whistled into life again. "Would Ms Katherine Pryde  
please report to the office. Report to the office Katherine Pryde."  
"Aw *man*..." She gathered her things and slouched all the way back.  
_What *NOW*?_ She didn't care how much detention Mystique was going to  
give her. She was going to try and kill the --  
Storm was waiting for her. The look on her face spoke volumes.  
_Oh no. Someone's hurt..._ "Who?"  
"Your brother. His medical problem's flared up again."  
Nested information indeed. "Oh no... *Stephen*... OmyGod... I thought  
he was okay on the new meds..." Kitty fell into a marvellous simulation  
of weeping hysteria, and managed to keep it up all the way into the car.  
Once away from public view, she got the real story.  
"Kurt's sick. He's asking for you. He's been able to tell us about the  
needles his mother gave him."  
"Shit," said Kitty. "She was actually like, telling the *truth* for a  
change."  
"What did she tell you?"  
"She said Kurt needed some medication, it was in a needle, and he  
like, hated it."  
Ororo snorted. "Mystique addicted her own son to morphine. He's  
suffering withdrawals fairly badly."  
"I'm going to kill her," said Kitty. "I don't know how, and I don't  
know when, but I'm going to *kill* her."  
He looked horrible when she saw him. His eyes had gone dim and both  
his fur and his hair was matted down with sweat. Kitty bolted towards  
him and held him tight. He smelled like upchuck and stale sweat and wet  
fur, but she still wanted to hold him until she made it better.  
His hands stopped making fists in the sheets to caress her face like a  
blind man.  
"Oh liebe. I'm so sorry. I couldn't hold on. I tried (unh) tried so  
hard..."  
"She told me it was *medicine*, that - that *bitch*!"  
"Shhh," Kurt managed. "I'm sure she meant well. She's not that up on  
medicine. Never knew how much to give me. She tried. She tried to make  
it better."  
Kitty cried for real. How could someone possibly be that sick?  
His hands were shaking, but he still managed to dry her tears. "Don't  
cry liebe. I need your strength. Just for a while."  
"I don't know what to do..."  
"Just be there."  
  
The withdrawals, just like everything else that hit his hyperactive  
metabolism, hit fast and hard. It was frightening for the both of them,  
but they made it.  
Kurt, ever the battler, was eager to be up and about, out of the  
infirmary at least. Even though he looked like hell, he wanted out.  
Kitty got the feeling he hated hospitals of any sort. Small wonder,  
considering the nightmares his mother pumped into his brain 24/7. She  
just wanted the horror over with, so she could have her Kurt back.  
  
He limped through the mansion with the aid of a caliper, his arm in a  
sling, and sought friendly company. Katzchen still didn't know, and he'd  
probably look suspicious snoozing in the company of his male companions,  
and that left--  
"Schwester?"  
"What do *you* want?"  
"In one word? Sleep."  
Rogue looked up from her book. Her sullen demeanor faded. "You ain't  
told nobody yet, have ya?"  
Kurt managed a smile. "It's not something I drop in casual  
conversation, you know. I can't exactly say, 'ja, sure, I look like a  
demon and I can see in the dark better than any other creature alive...  
but I can't sleep alone because I get scared of the shadows in the  
night.' Not exactly material to impress one's girlfriend, ja?"  
Rogue sighed. "At least you *got* a main squeeze."  
"Professor's holding up on that choker you want, isn't he?"  
"He says there's a passin' chance I can learn to control my power -  
and I won't do that if I use a prop."  
"Odd that he doesn't think like that for mine," Kurt pointed out as he  
stumped towards the chaise longue that sat beside Rogue's stuffed chair.  
"I only ever 'port without thinking in a panic. What could possibly  
frighten me *here*?"  
"Logan?"  
"Point." Kurt found a pillow and closed his eyes. _Ahhhh..._  
  
Rogue had to admit, ever since she became a mutant, she had a much  
cooler name than 'Marie'. Marie sucked. It was a name that came with  
pink pinafores and lace collars and peppered the mental landscape with  
flowers and bunnies and a thousand and one other things she just wanted  
to kill on sight because they were saccharine-sweet.  
She could tolerate Kitty - barely - because Kurt was in love with her  
and she was in love with him. True love, no matter what Todd's library  
said, was an amazingly rare thing. And, frankly, Rogue wanted to see  
what the hell he saw in her.  
Kurt started to snore.  
Rogue went back to her book. If she left now, for any reason, Kurt  
would wake up in a finger-snap. It was amazing to watch. He really  
needed the reassurance that someone he could trust was watching over  
him. She suspected that Mystique had given him a few nightmares about  
being picked up by strangers while he slept, nightmares that crept into  
his subconscious and kept him awake when there was no-one with him.  
Rogue had only stayed with her for a few weeks, but she *knew* her  
mother was a bitch. Kurt, though he recognised what their mother did,  
kept making excuses for her. Kept trying to find something positive to  
say. It was rough, thankless work.  
_Poor boy. Somewhere inside, I guess he still loves her..._  
"Oh, sothereheis. Damnhe'sasleep. Iwantedtotell'imaboutourlittle  
'goodbyenote'."  
_Great, it's the hyperactivity poster child._ "You can tell me. I'll  
pass it on."  
Pietro did. Rogue nearly screamed with evil glee. Kurt slept soundly  
through the lot.  
"Oh mah *Gawd*..." Rogue squeaked. "Mystique's gonna go *beserk*!  
You're gonna be lucky she don't flatten you next time she sees you..."  
"She'sgottacatchmefirst," Pietro grinned before he zipped away.  
Rogue breathed out a sigh of relief. She could only tolerate small  
doses of Pietro.  
  
Mystique snarled to herself as she pulled up at the boarding house.  
Stupid little ungreatful *brats*! They didn't know how lucky they really  
*were*. She slammed the doors between her car and her favourite chair.  
At least they cleaned up the place, but all they ever gave her was  
insolence and grief. Even her own son never called her 'Mommy' unless he  
was forced to.  
The liquor burned on its way down her throat. "KURT!" She bellowed,  
"Get your ungreatful furry blue ass down here. NOW!"  
He didn't turn up. Of course. He'd vanished. Just like the others.  
Ungreatful brat. She should have let him drown. Or left him with those  
gypsy idiots she moved in with for a handful of years.  
But *no*... *she* had to have a maternal *instinct*. It didn't matter  
that she'd been able to abandon her *daughter* without a thought. Marie  
was safe. Marie could *pass*. Kurt stood out like a sore thumb. Even in  
Heirelgart. Raven *knew* that if she left him alone for a minute, all  
that would happen would be that he got hurt.  
She'd tested her hypothesis once, leaving him on his own for three  
years. The Wagners treated him like family, but the surrounding area was  
slightly less than hospitable. And when she came back, her son  
remembered her.  
But he called her 'Mother'. Not 'Mom', nor 'Mommy', nor 'Momma'.  
Mother. As if their relationship was strictly technical. Astrid Wagner  
got the easily casual 'Mama', just as Johannes got the simple 'Papa'. It  
burned that two people who had no other relationship to him - other than  
fishing the two of them out of the river - got the endearments and the  
love.  
He could, when reminded, call her 'Mom', but it was always forced. She  
could hear it, every single time. It made her mad that he had to  
*remember* to call her 'Mom'. That when she wasn't around, he called her  
'Mother'. That he was so cold to her.  
After all she'd been through for him.  
Raven stormed upstairs. If she couldn't break him, she'd break his  
things. Education by proxy. Stupid little brat deserved a lesson, and  
what better way to teach him than the total destruction of the artifacts  
of his almost-family, the Wagners.  
His stuff was gone. His clothes. The brushes the Wagners gave him.  
Even the doll.  
Someone had left a note, in the classical manner of all jilted love,  
in lipstick on her mirror.  
"Not sorry we missed you, bitch," it read, "But here's a little  
something to remember us by!" And there was a marvellously accurate  
portrait of 'the finger' and little portraits of all the brotherhood  
members mooning her. Even her son.  
She stormed around the house, looking for some form of retribution.  
Everything the kids owned had been cleaned out. Even Kurt's gym had been  
disassembled and hauled out.  
They'd all gone, and left her with nothing.  
You could have heard her screaming at the Bayville city limits.  
  
"What the hell was that?" said Evan.  
The ex-brotherhood members in the area cracked up laughing. It wasn't  
nice laughter.  
"Mystique musta got Quickie's little love note, yo," said Todd.  
"I still say it wasn't nice," said Fred.  
"Neither was she," said Lance. "Bitch got less than what she deserved,  
if you ask me."  
"Yeah, but --" Fred paused, trying to think of the argument central to  
his feelings. "--she's a Mommy."  
"Shyeah. Mommy Dearest..."  
With a faint {zwip} Pietro joined the conversation. "Yougotthatright.  
Isawwhatamessshemadeoutofyouguys. It'shealthiertostayhere.  
Even*with*Daniels'dumbassgerms."  
"Sure you're not talking about yourself, Pie-pie?" Evan said sweetly.  
"Because as far as I recall, *I'm* not the one who's an escaped felon."  
"ShutupDaniels."  
"Ooooohhhh... double points," said Todd. "Insult reflection *and*  
embarrassing childhood name."  
"IcoulddobetterifIwantedto, butIdon't. Knowwhy? 'Causehe'snotworthit.  
That'swhy."  
"Quickie, you *gotta* get yourself a speech coach," said Lance.  
"Noway. It'snot*my*faulteveryone'stooslow."  
"Forget it, guys," said Evan. "He doesn't wanna slow down because he  
knows that if you *understood* him, you'd realise how stupid he is."  
"Zzzinng..." said Todd.  
"VeryfunnyDaniels. Howlongdidittakeyoutoworkonthatone?"  
"Are you talking to me? 'Cause your butt certainly ain't pointed in my  
direction."  
"Ho *ho*..." Todd laughed. "This guy is *hot*, yo."  
"He's got Quickie cornered, that's for sure," said Fred.  
"Mynameain't'Quickie', youloosers."  
"Sorry," chirped Todd. "*Pie-pie*..."  
"Thatdoesit. You'redead." {zwip}  
"Got a lot to learn, don't he?" asked Fred.  
"I wouldn't worry," said Lance. "Kurt'll teach him."  
There was another chorus of evil laughter.  
Evan looked less than confident. He'd known 'Pie-pie' since they were  
both children. "Uh. You guys don't own anything valuable, do you?"  
"Nuttin' he can find," said Fred.  
"Yeah. Living with Mystique teaches you a few things, if you know what  
I mean," said Lance.  
"Running, hiding, first aid, danger signs in abusive people," added  
Todd, ticking the list off on his fingers. "A thousand and one things  
you can do wit' duct tape..."  
"*That* one's real useful," said Fred. "Especially if she's done the  
thing with the teeth."  
There was a mutual shudder.  
  
Rogue had just settled back into her book when she heard the  
following:  
{zwip} "Sotheylovefuzzy, huh? Let'sseehowmuchtheylovehimafterthis..."  
Several spray-cans emptied, and all of a sudden, the library was  
coated in silly string. Whatever did it was gone in another {zwip}, but  
everything in the room was festooned with brightly-coloured and slightly  
offensive-smelling twine.  
Rogue sighed, trying to ignore the stench of the threads that now  
cocooned her. _Something must absolutely *hate* me readin' my book..._  
"Like, OmyGod... What *happened* here?"  
"Ah think it starts with a 'P' and ends with an 'ietro'... someone  
musta ticked 'im off."  
"Leaving *us* to like, pick up his mess." Kitty closed her eyes for a  
second. "But like, maybe not. I like, just told Jean to give him a  
whammy."  
"A what?"  
"It's like, subtle punishment? If you do something like, nasty and you  
don't like, care? The Professor or Jean'll like, show you what you've  
like, done to everyone. Have you like, seen Kurt?"  
"See that pile of string over there?" Rogue pointed at what was once  
the chaise longue, but now resembled a mass of string. "He's somewhere  
in the middle."  
"*Kurt*!" Kitty leaped forward and started tearing at the string.  
"Not so loud," Rogue joined her. "He's sleepin' fo' the first time in  
days."  
Kitty went quiet, but still worked to free her boyfriend of the  
string. "What?"  
"Another one of Mystique's li'l tricks. She musta told Kurt what'd  
happen to him if he ever let his guard down? And now he can't sleep  
unless there's someone in the room with him."  
"I am definitely like, killing her." Kitty ripped a patch away that  
revealed Kurt's face. He was still sound asleep. "How many other secrets  
like this has he like, *got*?"  
"I don't know," said Rogue. "His Mom certainly did a job on him."  
"Isn't she like, your Mom too?"  
"It doesn't really count," she said. "My mom abandoned me before I  
could talk. When you think about what happened to Kurt? I'm lucky."  
  
Pietro was doing what he loved best - running - when a series of  
thought/images flooded his mind.  
Rogue's annoyance.  
Kitty's fear at having to unearth Kurt.  
The impressions and general low-grade hatred people felt towards his  
pranks.  
Kurt's unique philosophy. If it doesn't hurt, it doesn't matter.  
Jean's extreme annoyance at having to tell him what a pest he was.  
Xavier's pity that he couldn't control his impulses.  
All experienced as the experiencer.  
Pietro stumbled and fell. He had *some* idea that what he did offended  
others, but he just assumed that people got over it. After all, they  
still *spoke* to him. He was --  
He was just as arrogant as the father who abandoned him with the  
Bitch.  
He shuddered as he picked himself up, and instantly zipped into the  
library to clean up his mess. So he had to move a few people to do so.  
So what. He was making it better, right? Just for insurance's sake, he  
added a few 'pardon's as he went.  
Fuzzy slept through it all.  
"Idon'tbelievethisguy! Howcanhesleepthrougheverythingthat'sgoingon?"  
Pietro sped out so he could dump the silly string in the trash. Damn  
that stuff smelled... He'd only ever spritzed it before. It was a pain  
to clean up, and he was *fast*.  
He spent a full minute standing still, thinking about things.  
"GodI'msuchajerk," he finally announced. He'd dug himself deep. He'd  
have to do a lot of work to pull himself out.  
Might as well start with appologies.  
  
They'd set up bleachers in basement seven, so anyone who was  
interested could watch Kurt's training sessions. The brotherhood still  
sat in its own clique-ish knot in a corner, but that knot was starting  
to come loose.  
A red line was all that stood between the audience, and the players.  
In this case, they were Kurt and Pietro. Kurt was sitting on the floor  
as comfortably as he could, while Pietro dribbled an ancient basketball  
at increasing speed.  
"Sowhat'sup?" Pietro demanded. "Iwastoldaboutthis. Whathappenedtothe  
'thinkfast' routine?" He threw the ball at Kurt's head.  
Kurt didn't even open his eyes as he caught it with one hand. "You  
already think too fast. *This* lesson is about thinking slow. Gaining  
patience."  
Todd burst out laughing.  
"ShutupTolenski!"  
"Ignore the buzzing of the insect. Stand firm, like the mountain."  
"Iswear, ifyoutellmetomovelikewater, I'mouttahere."  
Kurt smiled, opening his eyes at last. "I already told you how to  
move. Seek stillness. Stay as you are, until the ball reaches you." He  
made to throw it.  
Pietro braced himself.  
Kurt put the ball down, and set it rolling.  
The rest of the Brotherhood joined Todd in finding hilarity in the  
scene. It was slightly infectious.  
"You're breathing incorrectly," said Kurt as the ball slowly crawled  
across the floor. "Breathe from the diaphragm. Fill your lungs from the  
bottom to the top. Align your Chi."  
Pietro tried, but he was watching the ball like a hawk. It hit an  
imperfection on the floor, and wobbled to a stop.  
"AUGH! It'snevergonnagettomenow! Whatthehell'sthepointofthis? I'mfast.  
That'swhatI*do*..."  
"You can do more. You can *be* more. Just concentrate on peace, and  
the goal will come to you."  
Todd muttered, "How the hell's he gonna do that, yo? The ball  
*stopped*."  
Pietro sat, frowning. "Fine, I'lldoit. Butthatball'sjustgonna *stay*  
there." He tried to breathe as Kurt said.  
"Deeper than that," said Kurt. "You have to fill your whole body in  
order to straighten your Chi."  
Pietro did as he was told. He could actually *feel* it, like a light  
filling him from the inside. That yoga-zen shit really *worked*. He  
could feel peace flowing through him like water.  
Something bumped his knee.  
He opened his eyes. It was the basketball.  
"No. *Way*," he said.  
Kurt, showing no signs of having moved at all, grinned at him.  
  
The knot was untangling further. The Brotherhood were lounging more-  
or-less apart. They even let a few X-men sit near them.  
Kitty sat the closest, having wrapped her arm around Kurt's cast. Evan  
was sitting slightly upwind of Todd. Fred even tolerated the presence of  
Scott.  
On the floor, Pietro was sitting in a lotus position and meditating.  
There was a basketball placed some meters away from him. Every now and  
then, he'd open his eyes, stare at it, and then resume his meditation  
with a sigh.  
"So, uh... when are you going to tell him?" asked Lance.  
"What? That I told Jean to give him the ball when he centred himself?"  
Kurt grinned. "I think - sometime around our X-vs-Brother training  
match, next week. We don't want him trying to meditate the ball into the  
hoop."  
"Little bit mean, don't you think?" Scott asked. "He really *believes*  
he's going to do it."  
"In an infinite universe, all things are possible," said Kurt.  
"Sun Tsu?" said Fred.  
"Confucious?" guessed Todd.  
"Actually," Kurt blushed. "I think I heard it on an episode of  
'Monkey'..."  
Lance shrugged. "Wisdom is wisdom, I guess. Wisest thing I got out of  
a TV was in a Disney flick."  
"You're *kidding*, Alvers. A *Disney* film?"  
"Touchstone-Disney," Lance corrected. "It goes, 'It doesn't matter who  
you are, or what you are, or where you are; as long as somebody loves  
you.' It makes a lot of sense if you include yourself as 'somebody'."  
"Wow," Fred rumbled. "That's deep."  
On the floor, Pietro sighed, stretched his cramping legs, and shot a  
hoop. "Damnit, it'snotworking..." he said. "Itworkedthefirsttime.  
SometimesIthinkwespendourwholelivestryingtodothingsliketheyworkedthefirsttime."  
"That was pretty deep, too," said Kurt. "There's wisdom everywhere."  
Evan smirked. "I think *I'll* tell him."  
"Nah," advised Todd. "Always let yer enemy walk away wit' all the face  
they can carry. They respect you better."  
"Awright. I'll break it to him gently."  
  
"What do you *mean* you can't trust me, yet?" Kurt asked. "I haven't  
put my shields up *once* since I decided to stay. What have I done that  
was *possibly* untrustworthy?"  
"You still don't trust *us*."  
"You put me in a *collar*," Kurt argued. "That kind of thing tends to  
get one's hackles up. Meine schwester, meanwhile, has been *begging* you  
for one, and you refuse her. The Brotherhood has been making friends  
here. Pietro's even making an effort to get along with *Evan*, for  
crying out loud..."  
"This is between you, and the rest of us," said the Professor. "Not  
between your team and mine."  
"Hardly *my* team. I just trained them to be more than what they were.  
They don't think of themselves as 'Nightcrawler's men' they're the  
Brotherhood, nothing more, nothing less."  
"The *point*, Kurt, is that you kept secrets from us. You tell tales  
about *centaurs*..."  
"Search my memories. I'm open to you. Look in me. I *want* you to."  
Xavier needed no further invitation. Kurt could feel him riffling  
through his memories, lingering on Andrei, on Heirelgart, the Wagners.  
"That explains the letter to Germany."  
"I had to let them know I was relatively free. They've sent me letters  
for years, because they really cared. If - I ever could choose a family,  
it would be the Wagners. If you want me to work off the cost of postage,  
or the materials I used to *write* the letter, I--"  
"That won't be necessary." Xavier sighed. "How could *Mystique* raise  
someone like you?"  
"She didn't exactly raise me. She sort of spent time in the same  
general area." Kurt saddened at the thought. He had to admit it. His  
mother was no Mom. "There are fifty women I know, by some appellation  
that varies from 'Mom'. I have to seperate them by their last names.  
During the years Mother left me in Heirelgart, I decided that my mother  
should be unique. It was only fair. I only *had* one mother. I think I  
was also a little angry at her, because I picked a way that broke her  
heart... In a way, this --" he held up his plaster-wrapped arm. "--is my  
fault. I *chose* to call her 'Mother'. I *chose* to annoy her. We've  
been fighting ever since."  
Xavier had steepled his hands. He was just listening to whatever Kurt  
chose to say.  
"I broke her heart before she broke any of my bones. But I *had* to  
make her different from all the other 'Mom's I'd known. I wanted to, and  
it seemed the only way. But I hurt her. And she hurt me. And the only  
way to make it stop is for one of us to *leave*... And Magneto makes her  
stay. She and he -- had a deal. Because Mother wanted to protect me from  
him. He wanted to put me in a lab. She had to pretend until I was  
*seven*, that I'd died. That I didn't exist. Magneto guessed or  
something. Or found me. I don't know, but they made a deal. I belonged  
to her, and she belonged to him. No experiments were ever to be done on  
me, and she'd stay loyal." Kurt sighed. His eyes stung. "Mother can't  
leave, this time. So it has to be me. I can't stay with her, and you  
don't trust me enough to let me stay here. Where else can I go?"  
Xavier sighed. "That much is - true. I'm sorry. It's just - I assumed  
too much."  
"You *judged* too much, I think. I also think my mother has little to  
do with it."  
Again, the schooled not-reaction of something hitting home. Kurt was  
getting close to the mark. Xavier set his teeth, making a hard decision.  
"I'm - sorry. I can't let you teleport where you will. Not yet."  
"Like I said, where would I go? With or without the collar, I'm still  
a prisoner of my face. I don't 'do' outdoors."  
Kitty entered with a bundle of shopping under one arm. "*There* you  
are! I like, got you some stuff that's not like, monochrome? You'll have  
to like, adjust the pants a bit..."  
"I'm used to that," Kurt smirked. "Have fun at the mall?"  
"Yeah. You don't wanna hear about it."  
"I don't? Then why did I ask?"  
"You were being like, *nice*. I know all about that. Guys kinda like,  
glaze over when a girl starts talking shopping."  
"I've never *been* shopping. I've never been to the movies. I've never  
just - wandered around..." Kurt's heart sank. He limped forward and held  
Kitty's hands. "Liebe, it occurs to me that I'm a very bad boyfriend.  
Because of what I am, we'll never be able to go out together. Have fun  
together."  
"Kurt, I like, have fun with you. Stop being like, silly."  
"Ja, but - I can't take you to the Prom. We'll never have a date."  
"Stop it. I love *you*, okay? I'm not like, breaking up with you just  
because you can't like, *go* anywhere. It's like you said. This is just  
another little like, rock in the road."  
"Maybe a boulder," Kurt allowed, and kissed her. "Ah, love... I'll do  
my best to scale it with you. Pass the pitons..."  
Kitty giggled. "Anyway, I like, came in to see you get out of that  
like, nasty collar of yours."  
"Not today, liebchen. Herr Professor has doubts that I've healed  
enough. Maybe tomorrow. You know how I like to test my limits, eh?"  
Kitty wasn't fooled for a second. She glared at Xavier and said,  
"*Professor*! You said one *week*! You *promised*."  
"Kitty..." the Professor began.  
"No! You like, *promised* us he'd be out of that thing in like, a  
week. It's been a week. Like, get rid of it!"  
"Katzchen, my health is at stake," Kurt said quietly, keeping to the  
plausible lie he'd invented before. "It's just another day. I can play  
the game without my powers, ja? It won't make a difference."  
"It isn't about the game! It's about broken promises and --"  
realisation hit her eyes. "You made up that excuse, didn't you? You'll  
just keep on covering up for people that like, hurt you."  
"Katzchen, it doesn't hurt, --"  
Kitty put her hand over his mouth. "I swear, if you like, say it  
doesn't like, *matter*? I swear I'll cry. It *does* matter! I like,  
*hate* that collar. I keep like, having nightmares you'll be like,  
wearing a little metal tag on it..."  
_Good Lord... My nightmares are infectious..._ "I'm so sorry,  
liebling," Kurt whispered, catching her up in an embrace. Her shopping  
fell to the floor. "It's all my fault. I'm sorry..."  
Kitty tucked her head under his chin and sobbed into his chest.  
All he could do was hold her close, make comforting noises, and keep  
appologising until she felt better. Blame was his. It belonged to him,  
so it was easy to take.  
He'd take anything, just for her touch.  
  
Xavier tested their minds. Kitty was sinking ever deeper into dispair,  
because Kurt was falling into old habits. She *knew* that whenever he  
repeated himself, he was trying to lie for others, and convince himself  
that the lie was true. She'd heard him do it too many times already. She  
just wanted him to stand up and face somebody down.  
Kurt was blaming himself. He'd given Kitty his nightmares. He'd let  
her see him in pain. He was making her cry. And he was *terrified* that  
another person he loved would start punishing him for his misdeeds, even  
though he clearly deserved it. He'd been going for seven days without  
getting hit. He could feel the storm clouds brewing. Part of his mind  
was humming a constant mantra, _Hit me and get it over with. Hit me and  
get it over with. Hit me..._  
Xavier concentrated, focussing on the internal switches of the collar.  
He flicked the power, turning it off. The lock, as a result, disengaged  
with a tiny {snap}.  
He could feel Kurt's realisation, the difference between how the world  
felt with the collar off and the collar on.  
Kurt freed a hand and removed it, staring at the thing. "Herr  
Professor? I think I broke it... I don't know how it happened. Honest. I  
can pay. Somehow. I can work it off."  
"That won't be necessary," Xavier soothed, accepting the trinket. "I  
just turned it off."  
Instant, "Will you give it to meine schwester?"  
_I have to give him points for persistance..._ "I don't think it can  
help her."  
Kurt raised an eyebrow. "Just being able to touch someone would be  
help, but I have an idea. What if the sudden loss of her power help her  
feel the difference of it. From what I heard, nobody could tell when her  
powers activated, not even her. That means that it kind of snuck up on  
her. That can happen, sometimes."  
Kitty still clung to Kurt, but she'd stopped crying. "Yeah. You can't  
like, lose the chance. At least like, give it a try?"  
  
"Okay. The rules. No holds barred. If you have an advantage, use it,"  
Kurt dictated, playing with the ball. Despite the casts and his  
injuries, he was still as able as the others. "Don't go easy on us  
'cause we're wounded. An enemy would never be that chivalrous. Your goal  
is to get this ball into that net," he indicated the hoop on the  
Brotherhood side. "Our goal is the same, but on the other side. Those  
who can't fly can tumble on the rig up there. Except Fred. He's our  
defense. Nobody goes easy on anyone. 'Fair' is something that happens in  
parks with tents and sideshows. You get hurt, you get off the field. If  
you can't get off the field, call time and we'll help you. Got  
everything?"  
"Interesting rules," said Logan, who was referee.  
The teams faced off. Scott, Jean, Evan, Rogue and Kitty versus Kurt,  
Todd, Lance, Pietro and Fred.  
Kurt gave the ball to Logan and watched it like a hawk.  
Logan tossed it in the air.  
Jean grabbed it with her telekinesis and began pushing it towards the  
hoop.  
{Bamf! Bamf!} In two 'ports, Kurt seized the ball and slammed it in  
the other hoop.  
Things went downhill from there.  
  
"Hot pack or cold pack, Katzchen?"  
"One of each?" Kitty asked. "Aw *man*... I've never like *seen*  
playing like that. I'm going to be like, hurting into next week."  
"Longer, I think. We need to work on the way you move."  
"Like, what's wrong with the way I like, move?"  
Kurt pressed a cold pack to Kitty's eye. "For starters, when one runs,  
the knees should not stay together, ja?"  
"But someone could like, look up my skirt."  
"Liebe. You wear jeans."  
"...ohyeah..."  
Kurt had to smile. A freshly-nuked hot pack now soothed a sprained  
muscle. "You need to think outside the neat little box you've let others  
put you in, liebchen. You've already done it once, by accepting me. You  
can do it again. You can do it constantly."  
"I don't know... It's like, *hard*, sometimes."  
"Life is hard, sometimes. All our troubles can be thought out."  
"What about our like, 'date trouble'?"  
"I'm working on it. There are places on the grounds, here, that can't  
be seen from the road. At low tide, there's a little beach under the  
cliffs. We can picnic, at least." He sighed at the thought. "Ah, to sun  
myself again. Sometimes, I missed the sky, you know..."  
"I'll like, work on it, too. It'll be like, my first assignment."  
  
Kurt had to admit, black *had* been getting old. The new outfit Kitty  
got him fit perfectly after he put the requisite holes in the backs of  
the pants. She'd even thought to avoid polyester because of static.  
But she wasn't here.  
Katzchen had gone to school. Just like everyone else under the age of  
twenty.  
Except for him.  
And now he was rattling around the mansion, and certain portions of  
the estate, like a very small pea in an equally large box.  
Ororo didn't need help in the kitchen, and Logan had gone off to do  
whatever he did on his bike after just a few minutes of simple  
questions. That left the Professor. Maybe he'd have some work. Something  
to do.  
Even the Internet and the Discovery channel got dull after a while.  
And he'd been missing out on his schooling ever since he'd come here,  
just a few weeks ago. So what if the Professor didn't trust him? Kurt  
*was* that bored and that lonely.  
He found the Professor in the library, and there was a desk already  
set up.  
Telepathy was a very useful gift, sometimes.  
"You knew," he said.  
Xavier nodded. "As you said, you haven't been using any psychic  
shields since you came here. I don't 'head hop', but your thoughts were  
-ah- leaking."  
Kurt found himself smiling, even as he counted the booklets on the  
desk. "Just three?"  
"IQ, and scholastic aptitude tests. I need to know where to start.  
Please, work at your own pace."  
Kurt picked up the first booklet and opened it with the number 2  
pencil supplied. Almost instantly, he began marking answers on the sheet  
provided. At last. Something to *do*.  
  
Xavier raised an eyebrow. Kurt certainly worked *fast*. So far, he  
hadn't encountered anything that stumped him. These were tests that  
Scott and Jean were stressing about studying for. There was no way that  
someone of Kurt's years would be able to --  
Of course. Kurt had nothing else to do *but* learn about things. He'd  
been a shut-in for years. That, combined with his ability to get bored  
in a few seconds flat, would have doubtless lead to him reading anything  
he could get his hands on.  
_Odd, he's barely *looked* at the workbook._  
Kurt was watching him between questions, covertly, of course. He  
seemed to be taking his measure of Xavier, just like Xavier was  
measuring him. He went back to the written test, and his head filled  
with formulae. Kurt opened the book, and started drawing diagrams.  
Xavier relaxed. He was just a boy after all.  
  
Nice people, the Romani. They were, once you stopped treating them  
like filth, very open and friendly. The Wagners, even though they owned  
land, had been Romani. They'd taught him quite a lot of the Romani ways,  
when his mother had left him in their care.  
He knew how to read people. He knew how to play to an audience. He  
knew how to do it so subtly that they wouldn't know it was happening to  
them.  
Except Xavier was a telepath.  
He'd *know*.  
So Kurt was even more subtle than usual. He let Xavier know that he  
was watching him, taking a measure of him, but he kept his thoughts to  
himself.  
Xavier was getting anxious, and kept glancing at the so-far-untouched  
workbook. His best students had probably asked for more workbooks by  
now.  
Another multiple choice question made him think about all the various  
means of answering it. Time to give the audience what they wanted. Kurt  
opened the notebook and started working out, in his personal shorthand,  
which method fit the answers best. Pity he *knew* physics, because of  
his power. Because he *had* to work out the way it *really* was,  
otherwise part of his brain wouldn't let him have any peace. This, he  
worked out in full, with little annotations for Xavier's interest, later  
on.  
Kurt smiled as he isolated the best fit. It was more than enough to  
allay suspicion. Maybe next question he could write a little letter to  
Katzchen. Exept it was pointless. Katzchen would see him this afternoon,  
and they'd talk out anything he needed to write down. And kiss. And hug.  
And... he was daydreaming. _Back to business, Herr Darkholme. Back to  
business._  
*Dark*holme. Now there was a last name he abhored. His letter to  
Germany had been so far unanswered. Would the Wagners understand his  
request? Especially after so long without so much as a *word* from  
him...  
Kurt sighed. *Business*. He turned the page.  
This page intentionally left blank.  
That was the end of the last test.  
It had only taken him a few hours.  
Maybe there was something in the library that he could read again  
while the Professor graded his work.  
When Kitty was guaranteed out of his life, he'd filled empty hours  
with pleasant daydreams of clandestine meetings. Now that he *knew* she  
was coming back to him at the end of the day, all he could do was count  
the hours until her return.  
Maybe, if the Wagners didn't want him, he could take Kitty's last  
name. Kurt Pryde. Not bad. Better than Kurt *Dark*holme, anyway. Much  
better.  
He made his way down to the kitchen and began packing a picnic basket,  
daydreaming about a pleasant afternoon on the beach, or in the woods.  
Yes, the woods. The place with the least likelyhood of casual passers-  
by, wandering strangers, or kibbitzers. Soon, he'd have to ask Xavier  
for a day job or something. He needed some money if he wanted to give  
Katzchen some of the finer things in life. He *had* to compensate for  
his inability to take her anywhere outside of the Institute grounds.  
"You goin' somewhere, foo'?"  
"Just a picnic with meine liebe," Kurt said. "Please don't slime  
anything? I want our first date to go well."  
"You're taking her on a *picnic* for a first date," said Lance.  
Everyone was coming home. Kitty, trapped in detention, would be another  
half hour.  
Kurt shrugged and grinned. "Where else can I go? I can't exactly take  
her out you know. Not unless there's a science fiction convention going  
on. Or it's Halloween."  
"Damn, wegottadosomethingaboutthat," said Pietro.  
"I'mgonnahavetocomeupwithaplan."  
"Us?" Fred asked. "What can *we* do."  
"Hey, come on, yo," said Todd. "We the bad boys. We can do  
*anything*."  
"Anything legal," said Kurt. "Company manners, remember? We don't want  
Xavier to throw us back."  
"He won't," Lance held up his broken arm. "Not while we're still  
busted up, at least."  
"All the same, play nice?" Kurt asked. "I don't want to be thrown away  
again."  
"Yougotmyvote, pal," said Pietro. "Beingdumpedonceisbadenough."  
"Are we like, having a party or something?"  
Kurt instantly brightened. "Katzchen! You got out early!"  
"My time's like, *up*, Elf," Kitty ran up to hug him. "I'm not like,  
coming home late *ever*, if I can like, help it."  
"Wunderbar," he sighed. "Come, liebe. You can help me with the salad."  
"You like, planned a picnic?"  
"Ja. Just picture it. You, me, a romantic sunset. Ten thousand  
friendly squirrels..."  
"Squirrels?"  
"I'm a soft touch." He grinned helplessly. "I have to feed small  
helpless animals."  
"So that's like, where the mixed nuts were going."  
  
He found a beautiful place. A place where they could easily pretend  
they were just any other boy and girl out on a picnic. So they were  
mobbed by squirrels who recognised him as a food source in lieu of the  
traditional swarm of ants. It just added to the fun.  
As the sun set, they watched the sky turn colours, and Kurt, who only  
came out into the open in the night - when he was less likely to be seen  
by anyone - pointed up at the constellations as they revealed  
themselves.  
Logan came and fetched them for dinner, and walked between them on the  
way back to the mansion.  
"You can relax, Herr Logan," Kurt jibed. "Sometimes a picnic is just a  
picnic. I'd never force Katzchen to go where she didn't want to go. Heh.  
I may be illegitimate, but I'm not a bastard, ja?"  
"That remains to be seen," said Logan.  
"So much for an environment of trust," Kurt muttered.  
  
"Soareyouready?"  
"Pietro - what?"  
"Ifigureditout. YouandKittyGirlcanhavesomereallifeexperiences."  
Kurt raised an eyebrow. "In the Danger Room, yes? It all feels fake.  
I've told you."  
"You can like, understand him?" Kitty asked, clinging to Kurt as if to  
protect herself from the hyperfast mutant.  
"So far, our sessions on Zen Yoga have yet to extend to speech.  
Pietro... what *are* you planning?"  
"Okay, Iadmitit, it'salittlebitillegal, butwewon'tgetcaught."  
Kurt pinched his nose. "*Pietro*..."  
"There'sthisshoppingmallthat'sgonnaopentomorrow," he started to  
explain.  
"No."  
"What?"  
"It's breaking and entering, Pietro. No matter what you call it. The  
Professor was able to quash your charges, but only on a *good*  
*behaviour* bond. That means you *behave*..."  
"Wewon'tdoanydamage. Ifiguredoutawaytogetbythesecuritycameras.  
Wecanevendoadayatschool. Come *on*... You'veneverevenhadadayatschool.  
Howlameisthat?"  
"Better lame than dead, ja?"  
"What's he like, saying?"  
Kurt told her.  
Kitty squeaked. "Like, that is *way* too much trouble. We'd never  
like, get away with it."  
Pietro held up a pair of wire cutters. "Say'hello'tomylittlefriend."  
Kurt sighed. "Pie-pie..."  
"Come *ON*... *Outdoors*. With your *girlfriend*. A little bit of  
*normal*. How could it hurt?"  
Kurt folded his arms. "Two words: Animal control."  
"Butwesetitallupand*everything*..."  
"You set it up *already*?" Kurt groaned. "If I'm going to go down, I  
may as well go down for the whole thing..."  
"GREAT! Comewithme!"  
  
"We're gonna do it?" asked Todd.  
"We're going to do it," said Lance.  
"Ah can't believe Ah agreed t' this," Rogue sighed.  
"Hey," said Fred. "It's for Kurt."  
"Um." Kitty, who was in the back with Fred. "*Why* are there Muumuus  
in here?"  
"Don'task," said Pietro.  
Kurt finished putting his diguise on. "All right. Let's get this over  
with."  
Lance started the X-van. "First stop, Bayville High."  
  
"Our typical High School day begins with a tardy warning from the  
Principal --" Lance narrated.  
The 'Principal', played by Pietro in a pair of Groucho Marx funny-  
goggles and a stolen jacket, stepped in. "My watch is *five* minutes  
fast," he said, mimicking Mystique. "And I have a stick up my butt the  
size of Kentucky! If you're late again, you'll have *permanent*  
*detention*! Have I made myself clear?"  
Kitty cracked up. "That is like, *frightening*..."  
Lance cleared his throat. "And then we move onto discover that some  
jerk has broken into your locker, leaving you with..."  
Todd opened an abandoned locker, "The sum total of two mouldy  
sandwiches, a left sneaker banned by the geneva convention, some  
incriminating spraypaint cans and somethin' that was probably once a  
slice of cheese. Ew..."  
"And just as you recover from the shock, the school bully decides to  
have a little word with you."  
Fred, wearing a piece of cardboard that read 'bully', picked Kurt up  
and said, "Gimmie your lunch money, or I pound you!"  
Kitty flinched at the noise. So far, they'd been lucky that it was  
night, but what about security guards? "Fred. Like, keep it down."  
"I don't have *any* money," said Kurt. "Not a red cent. I'm a pov."  
"All the more reason to pound you," said Fred in a menacing whisper  
before he mock-pummelled Kurt into mock-submission.  
"After you get hauled away to the office for fighting - and it's only  
you because the bully can actually clear outta there - you spent an  
unpleasant handful of hours in the stultifying boredom that is class..."  
They were guided to a classroom where Pietro, now in a white coat,  
read from the periodic table in a nasal voice.  
Kurt was cracking up as well, by now.  
"After the ceasing stimulation of class," Lance narrated, "We move on  
to lunch." He herded them all into the cafeteria, which was staffed by  
Pietro in a hairnet and 'smoking' a toothpick. "You stand in line for  
hours, losing sight of your girl in the crowd," he took Kitty away to a  
table. "Because she wisely chose to brown-bag it. The guy in front of  
you spends hours making up his goddamn mind..."  
"Uh, no wait. Maybe I'll have the spaghetti... no, the lasagne looks  
good, too. Uh..." said Fred.  
"While some idiot behind you picks your pocket and rips you off to the  
tune of --"  
"Two paperclips and a sweet wrapper," said Todd. "This part ain't  
workin', yo. Kurt ain't got no cash."  
"Finally and at last you step up," Lance continued, "And order the  
free lunch."  
"Fish platter, tapioca and lukewarm milk," Pietro grated, stubbing his  
'cigarette' out on an empty plate. "Mangia"  
Kurt took his tray out of the queue, laughing all the way.  
"And when you finally come out, you find that your girl has been  
monopolised by the local Jock," he waved the cardboard sign to match,  
"who hires the bully as his muscle."  
Fred waved a friendly hello before he said his line, "Clear off,  
pipsqueak."  
"*Sweetie*!" Kitty leaped onto Kurt. "Missed you, Pookie."  
"Pookie?" Todd made a face. "I think I'm gonna be *sick*..."  
"Okay," Lance gave up. "Obviously a typical day at school's a washout.  
Let's do the afternoon shopping. C'mon. We're outta here."  
The escaped the school and headed for the grocery section of the new  
mall.  
Fred now wore a bad Muumuu and an equally nasty wig. Pietro, too, was  
in similar drag.  
"Good evening, ladies and germs," said Todd. "This evening, Kurt's  
annoying little brother will be portrayed by Todd. Master of mayhem.  
Kurt's Mom will be played by Fred. Kitty's Mom will be portrayed by  
Pietro, who we're starting to think is a li'l strange, yo."  
"Stick to the script," said Lance.  
"And playing the parts of Friendly Staff who don't give a crap, are  
Lance and Kurt's *lovely* half-sister, give her a hand 'cause she missed  
out on being the school tart, *Rogue*!"  
There was a smattering of applause.  
"Ah can't believe Ah agreed to do this..." she muttered.  
  
Somewhere, a bell tolled midnight, but inside the mall, the lights  
made it early afternoon. Kurt's "family" ran across Kitty's in the  
middle of the baby lane.  
"YO MO-OM!" Todd said at the top of his voice. "REMEMBER TO GET THE  
DIDIES FOR KURT'S NIGHT TROUBLES!"  
Kurt and Kitty cracked up laughing.  
Pietro picked up a bag of super mega sanitary pads. "Punkin? I'm not  
sure... Are these your brand?"  
"Oh, that reminds me. Fuzzybuns? Do you want the orange, or the  
*strawberry* scented flea powder?"  
They fell into each other's arms, laughing until they cried.  
"This is *not* working," complained Pietro. "They should be melting  
into little puddles of embarressment by now..."  
"I try and I try and I try," said Fred. "Nothing works."  
"They just *laugh*."  
Rogue's voice came over the PA. "Couple Frenching in the frozen goods  
aisle. Couple *Frenching* in the frozen goods aisle."  
"Screw this," said Todd. "Let's get 'em home."  
  
"Did I have a good time?" Kurt said, laughing as they closed up the  
garage. "Are *kidding*? It was like Heirelgart only a thousand times  
*better*... I wasn't just Kurt. I was just Kurt who had a girl. A  
brother. A real *life*. Es ist wundervoll. Es ist Paradies, selbst wenn  
es *ist* vortauscht... I loved it. Dankeshoen. Dankeshoen."  
The lights clicked on and they all froze.  
"Good," Logan checked his watch. "Morning. And where have *you* idiots  
been?"  
Kurt's face fell. It instantly got that sort-of hunted look he'd had  
when he'd been living with his mother. "It's my fault," he said,  
stepping between his friends and Logan. "They wanted to show me a little  
bit of real life. It was the only way they could think of. If I wasn't  
here, they wouldn't have done it. I'm at fault. I'm the cause. Do what  
you like to me, I won't fight back, but don't *touch* them."  
Logan stared at him.  
Kurt closed his eyes, braced himself, and held his ground. He spent a  
long minute just standing there. He could feel Logan just standing where  
he was. Everyone had turned into living statues. "Hurt me," he said.  
"Cut me, kill me. You can even send me back to Mystique, I don't *care*.  
Just don't hurt *them*."  
Behind him, Kitty began crying.  
"'S okay, yo," murmured Todd. "You can shut your eyes. It's usually  
over quick."  
"Get it over with," said Kurt. "Hurry up."  
"Get to bed, all of ya."  
Kurt opened his eyes. "What?"  
"Ya got a hearing difficulty, Elf? Get ta bed. Chuck'll deal with you  
in the morning. Later in the morning."  
They crept upstairs.  
"That was wierd," said Lance.  
"That was scary," said Kitty.  
"Mother *never* made us wait. Not once. She just got mad and - *POW*!"  
They all flinched at the word. "Then it was all over."  
"Maybe they need to work up to it 'cause there ain't no liquor in the  
house," speculated Fred.  
"Maybe he just don't wanna be woken up at BF in the mornin'," said  
Rogue. "C'mon. It's so late, it's early. We can at least try and get  
some rest..." she guided Kitty into their room.  
Lance forced Kurt into the room they shared with a, "You'll see her  
tomorrow, at least. C'mon. We don't wanna make 'em *more* angry at us."  
Pietro, Fred and Todd went into the room they shared.  
Kurt shook himself, changing into his jammies. Had to try and rest.  
For Katzchen. Without a word, he uncovered Schmerzmann and took it with  
him to bed. Across the room, he could see Lance snuggling up with his  
'woobie' in the dark.  
Everyone had their relics of a home they loved. A little piece of  
something to remind them that, once upon a time, the world had been  
safe.  
Kitty had Lockheed, not that she needed him for more than the  
occasional nightmare. Rogue had a Raggedy Ann doll with a dress with  
sunflowers on it. Lance had his 'woobie', Pietro had a grungy stuffed  
rabbit called 'Pishy', and Todd a surprisingly well-kept Kermit. Fred's  
memento of happier times was a rubber duck with a prolapsed squeaker.  
For all Kurt knew, the other X-men had something from their childhoods  
as well. He spent an illogical minute trying to match up Scott with a  
child's soft toy.  
_Go. To. Sleep,_ he ordered. _You'll be no good to anyone if you're  
wasted because you're tired._  
Kurt snuggled up to the little doll that Mama Wagner had made to be  
just like him, and closed his eyes. Maybe he'd dream of better times,  
and better days...  
  
The Brotherhood was a tight knot again, except for Kitty clinging to  
Kurt and vice versa, there was a clear space between them and the X-men.  
Kurt sat in the middle of them, grunting and scratching at his casts in  
a frenzy.  
"I *hate* broken bones..." he said. "I haven't been able to brush down  
properly in *weeks*. I don't think I can survive for months."  
"You say that every single time, yo," Todd sighed. "Just use a  
chopstick, man."  
"...nnnnggghh..." he scrabbled at his arm again "Didn't think to bring  
one with."  
Lance reached into his coat and handed one over. "Here. Free of  
charge."  
"Hygenically unsound but I've stopped caring. I'm already *disgusting*  
under these things --"  
"--And when you get 'em off," Todd joined in, "You're gonna bathe for  
a week."  
"Wiseass," said Kitty. She smoothed Kurt's hair down from it's attack  
of bed-head. "My poor sweetie is suffering."  
"Ah. Ah. Ah. *Aaaahhhh*..." His final sigh was laced with a little  
purr. "Oh, that's better." He handed the chopstick back. "Thanks, mein  
fruend."  
"Keep it," said Lance. "I got a whole packet. Those things get a  
little rank after a while."  
"Ew," said Rogue. "The sooner you guys heal up, the better."  
"The sooner this is *over* with, the better," said Fred. "What's  
taking him so long?"  
"Probably eating his breakfast with slow deliberation," said Lance.  
"You remember those, 'we'll have a quiet dinner or else' evenings?"  
Everyone but Pietro shuddered.  
"SoundslikeImissedsome*real*parties," he sarcasmed. "Justchecking,  
wasanyoneactuallyabletosleeplastnight?"  
"Nope."  
"No."  
"Nuh-uh."  
"Nein."  
"Like, no way."  
"Me neither," sighed Rogue. "Hurry *up*... the suspense is killin'  
us."  
"Better suspense than the real thing," said Kurt.  
"You're a *real* ray of sunshine, you know that?"  
"Hey, at least *you* guys would get a funeral," Kurt said. "I'll get a  
glass box and a pose like this," He demonstrated an 'attack' posture on  
the floor.  
"No..." Kitty broke down crying and knelt to hug him. "I won't let  
'em. I *won't*."  
Scott, who'd been watching the entire display, sighed and said, "When  
you people have *quite* finished with the histrionics?"  
"Leave them alone, Scott," said Jean. "Their fears are real."  
"Ja, I've been working on that pose for years."  
Todd laughed. "That's the only thing I've ever seen scare the crap  
outta Mystique, yo. She'd come home and find him posin' onna coffee  
table or sumpin' and she'd be all, 'what the hell you doin', foo'?' and  
he'd just go, 'I'm playin' dead'. Scared the *crap* outta her."  
"I remember," said Fred. "We'd get extra turkey."  
Rogue just rolled her eyes.  
"You guys are seriously twisted, you know that, right?" Evan  
announced.  
"Better bent than broken," the Brotherhood chorused.  
"That'sourmotto," said Pietro. "Kindagetsyouright*there*."  
"Oh *yeah*," Evan drawled. "I can see *you* being one hundred percent  
behind getting bent."  
Jean rolled her eyes. "Not another sparring match," she murmured.  
"It's too early in the morning..."  
"I'mathomewithmysexuality," quipped Pietro. "Are*you*?"  
"Ding! First blood to Pie-pie..."  
"Shh!" Kurt held up a hand. "I can hear them coming." He pulled  
himself back onto his chair and sat in a pose resembling a contrite  
little boy. His eyes were shut and he was breathing hard. Psyching  
himself up for the confrontation.  
Xavier entered. He had a newspaper across his lap. "We're fortunate  
that none of the news services picked this up, and that the police  
didn't consider last night's events to be a crime."  
Kurt kept his guard up. He didn't know Xavier. He didn't know what he  
was capable of.  
"However, we also don't want a repeat of this incident. Ever. There's  
only one thing I can do. Kurt?"  
_Here it comes._ He stood and braced himself. Eyes shut. If he didn't  
see the blow coming, he couldn't dodge. Or make them angrier in any way.  
"This is for you," said Xavier.  
Kurt risked a peek. He was holding out a sports watch. One that, by  
the looks of it, had all the extras.  
There was a general sussuration of "I don't get it"s from behind him.  
Kurt gingerly took the watch from Xavier and put it on by feel, southpaw  
style, on his right hand. There was a faint buzzing.  
"*Whoah*!"  
"*COOL*!"  
"Awright..."  
Kurt looked at himself. His hands were pink. They looked like they had  
four fingers, even though they *were* stuck in a vulcan salute. His left  
foot appeared shod. His right was in a cast, all five, normal toes  
poking out. His tail was unseen, but he could still feel it swishing  
about.  
"Ach..." was all he could say. He felt his face. He didn't *feel*  
different.  
"It's only an illusion, in order to help you avoid persecution," said  
Xavier. "And help you live something of a normal life. *Without* your  
team's -er- *creative* ideas."  
Kurt stared at the watch. At the illusion of pink, normal skin. He  
found himself staring at Kitty and grinning like a fool.  
She was smiling and crying at the same time. "Oh, sweetie..."  
"I'm going to have to get that job *now*, ja? I'm going to need money  
in order to go out with you."  
"Yo, his own *Mom* ain't gonna recognise 'im," Todd said.  
"Free..." whispered Kurt.  
"Rogue, this is for you. You must promise me not to wear it unless  
you're under supervision, or have our express permission. After some  
deliberation, we decided it was only fair."  
Rogue looked at the thing Xavier had given her. "An inhibitor collar?  
But you said--"  
"I changed my mind after a quiet consultation with interested  
parties."  
One by one, each of the Brotherhood started blushing and trying to  
look at something else.  
Rogue laughed. It was the laughter of someone who was also looking at  
freedom.  
"Oh, and Kurt? You have some visitors downstairs. They said something  
about a letter..." He began to wheel out of the library. "This way."  
  
Kitty knew the Professor was up to something. He was never this vague  
unless he wanted to surprise someone. She could see that, after the  
suspense of last night, the Brotherhood was so relieved that they didn't  
care who walked next to them.  
Previously mortal enemies now chatted almost amiably together on their  
way to wherever the Professor was leading them.  
There was an interesting group in the sitting room. Three girls,  
almost identical but for their ages. A man and a woman, careworn with  
age, but not old yet. And --  
_Looks like Kurt wasn't lying about the centaurs..._  
"Kurti?" said the woman. "Was geschah Ihnen?"  
Kurt was already halfway across the room. "Mama! Papa!"  
"That's not Kurti!" objected the youngest. "He's *pink*!"  
"Ach! Erika... Katja... Anja... Es ist gut, Sie nach so lang zu  
sehen."  
"Smells like him," said the centaur. "Have you forgotten *me*,  
cheeseweight?"  
"Barrelfoot!" Kurt crowed. "Would you believe I didn't see you?"  
The centaur stood, those who'd previously thought him a figment craned  
their necks. He was, as advertised, a half-horse; but the horse in  
question was a Clydesdale. He had to be over seven feet tall. Maybe  
eight. "Time to get those cat's eyes of yours checked, nein? If you  
still have them."  
"Heh. I forgot about that." Kurt turned off the hologram. "Tada!"  
"You *have* to be like, Andrei," said Kitty. "Kurt like, told us all  
about you."  
"We dint believe a word of it, yo," said Todd. "Before now, anyways."  
By now, Kurt was almost buried in chattering relatives, eager to hold  
him. They were all talking about everything at once. Mr Wagner had a  
folio of papers with him.  
Somehow, Kitty knew. They were adoption papers.  
Kurt Darkholme was going to become Kurt Wagner.  
All his dreams were coming true.  
  
=======================================================================  
  
Translations:  
  
Du bist Freude meines Inneren -- you are my heart's delight [informal]  
  
Ich bin so glucklich -- I'm so happy  
  
Nichts kann mich stoppen Sie liebend -- Nothing can stop me loving you  
  
Ich mochte Sie in aller Ehre heir -- What he was trying to say was "Ich  
mochte Sie in aller Ehre heiraten", which means, "I want to marry you in  
all honour"  
  
Ich bin fein -- I'll be fine  
  
Ich spreche nicht viel englisch - I don't speak much English  
  
Ich kaufe nicht nichts heute - I'm not buying anything today  
  
Sie begraben mich in einem Glaskasten - They'll bury me in a glass box  
  
Es ist wundervoll. Es ist Paradies, selbst wenn es *ist* vortauscht -  
It's wonderful. It's paradise, even if it *is* pretend  
  
was geschah Ihnen - what happened to you  
  
Es ist gut, Sie nach so lang zu sehen - It's good to see you after so  
long 


End file.
